Dreams, Planes, and Vampires, EH?
by ArmagonAuthor
Summary: Sam and Jess's happy lives have been challenged. First nightmares, an unexpected pregnancy, and then Sam's brother Dean contacts him out of the blue. His past has come back to haunt him... but at what cost?
1. Chapter 1

**Dreams, Planes, and Vampires, EH?**

_Drip. Drip._

"_Why Sam?"_

Sam Winchester jerked upright so fast that Jessica was awake instantly. It was the dream again, the one that made his head feel like it was on fire. Jess had been on the ceiling, and he had tried in vain to stop the fire. Nothing had worked. _Again_. He rubbed his eyes, and Jess gave him a concerned look. He took a deep breath, watching her for a moment. No fire, no blood. She was alright.

"What happened? Are you okay?" Jess returned his fearful look.

_Jess if only you knew._ "Yeah. Yeah I'm okay." Sam ran a hand through his hair and calmed his expression. "I just had a nightmare. I'm fine."

"Again!"

"No. It's okay, I promise." Sam looked to his bedside table. "I'm just going to go get some water." He swung his legs out from under the covers, and Jess sat up.

"Sam it's been three weeks. Jess uttered softly. "Don't you think maybe…?"

"What? Should I be sent off to the rubber-room?" Sam said it as a joke, but he was still freaked. Part of him was starting to doubt his sanity. It had been longer than three weeks that Sam had been having nightmares. But Jess didn't know that. She also didn't know that they were about her.

"I didn't mean it like that…."Jess shrugged.

"Sorry about waking you up." Sam laughed.

"Its not a big deal."

"You need your sleep."

Jess gave him a funny look, then looked down at her tummy. Sam smiled. After three months, you could barely tell she was pregnant. He remembered how exited he was when he found out. "Maybe in a few months I can use that excuse. Not yet!"

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Sam was taken aback. He had already been shopping for engagement rings. He hoped she wasn't doubtful of his commitment. "Sure Jess. But I'm sure anything else we haven't gone over can wait till morning."

"No Sam…The nightmare. I know it always helps for me." Jess crossed her legs and adjusted her Smirfs pajama shirt. She had gone into her "talk-about-it" mode. Sam actually loved that about her, how honest Jess was and how she could get almost any secret from him. But it was also dangerous. Jess couldn't know about his family, what he had seen. Maybe that's what made his nightmares so powerful. "I hate to see you like this."

"I know. But…don't worry." Sam said it again, knowing how pathetic he sounded. Jess still didn't believe him. "I'm just stressed from the LSAT's. Pre-law isn't exactly easy." He stood up. "Go back to sleep. I don't want to be the one to ruin your sociology exam tomorrow."

"Fine." Jess leaned over and kissed him. "Good night." She went back to sleep as Sam left the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Sam!" Jess's voice echoed from the kitchen. "My doctor just called. I have to go to Anaheim for a special spnogram. I will be a few days!."

Sam cleared his throat, looking out from behind the bathroom door. "I will be right out to help pack!" He called, but his brain was working overtime. He was still thinking about the dream. But who could he talk to?

Sam scanned the address-book on his phone again. There was no one he could call who wouldn't think he was crazy. No one could know about the nightmares… And he couldn't call Dean or his father John. He wasn't crazy, and he wasn't a possessed. He didn't need to be put in a "rubber room," or blasted with holy water, or shot with a silver bullet.

Besides, Sam thought, he didn't need his dad making comments about how it was "a matter of time he dragged himself back." Sam had told John that he wanted to go to college, and had gotten kicked out of the house. "If you leave, don't bother coming back." Those were Johns exact words, and Sam had them memorized. He fought with his father a lot, considering that he was the only one of the Winchesters that didn't want to hunt monsters and demons; he was the freak of the family. But this was different.

And he didn't think Dean would understand. All Sam knew was that their mom had died pinned to the ceiling over _Sam's _crib as a child, and although Dean may have been the one to remember that night, he hadn't been there when the _thing_ killed her. Sam had seen the whole thing, but just couldn't remember it. And whenever he dreamt that Jess was pinned to the ceiling, it was vividly real to _him_. And that scared him more than anything. Sam had relived that a good fifty times in his dreams, and it might as well be considered reality. It was real to him.

_Bleep. Bleep._ Sam looked at his laptop. _You have mail. _"What now?" Sam sat down and opened the inbox, his cell phone abandoned on the couch. Who was the email from? Sam checked the server. It was from an unknown email, but the subject text was interesting. _Read alone._

_Okay, _Sam opened the email, _what do you want now?_

He read:

"_Sam I hope to hell you are reading this alone. You didn't answer when I called you like a billion freaking times, so I thought I would so super-nerd and email you. _

_I would ask how Stanford is going, but I don't have time for chitchat._

_I know you don't want to hunt, and you have classes and stuff, but we need your help. Dad is too stubborn to say it, but we do. Something big is going down, and it would be nice to have someone else to help. Besides… you could use the practice. _

_We think it's vampires, but there is something weird about this. We could use your laptop and nerd skills._

_Either reply or get here as fast as you can. Don't ignore this Sam._

_1287 _

_Funkytown."_

_Dean. _ Sam shook his head_._ His brother had used the word _funkytown_, which was their code word for emergencies. He wondered why Dean was contacting him now. It was too weird, being contacted by Dean when Sam was just looking for someone to call.

_Oh well, _Sam walked to his room to pack. _Maybe killing some vampires will help me._ He highly doubted it.

As Sam got on the plane he left Jess a voice-message on her phone telling her that his Canadian aunt just died, and he had to go to the funeral because he was the only trustworth family member with law expertise. He would miss her, he said, and would be back in a week. It was only half of a lie, Sam thought. He _would _miss her. But he wasn't going to a funeral.

Sam could hardly believe the coordinates that came with Dean's email. They pointed straight to a small town in the middle of Saskatchewan. That was in Canada! The middle of the prairies too! Sam shook his head, stuffing the newly bought plane ticket into the flight attendant's hand and smiling. _Okay Sam,_ he took a deep breath and watched the landscape change before him. _Lets kill some prairie vampires. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Sam tossed his suitcase into the backseat of the rental car, and his bag of hunter-gear into the trunk. It hadn't been easy to smuggle these things across the boarder. He had brought salt, matches, a machete, a pistol, a .22, and .45, but they had all been smuggled successfully. The Canadian airport, he found out, was quite easy to cope with. The Canadians were nice, well dressed, and to his surprise, they didn't have an accent! Not once did they say "eh," and there wasn't a hillbilly in sight. **_**I wonder what Canadians say about us!**_** Sam laughed when he thought of his college friends. **_**Flip-flops and tans and summer flings!**_** It was amazing how easy stereotypes got around. **

Driving slowly enough to enjoy the cool, frosty fall scenery, Sam noticed a crowd of teenagers walking off of a side road. Sam stopped to let them pass. They walked sloppily, looking as if they just came from a Halloween party. They were all dressed up. One girl caught Sam's attention, with plastic fangs and fake blood on her face. She was dressed up as a vampire. Sam had to resist reaching for the gun under his jacket as reflex took over. When the teens left the road, he continued, shaking the vision of the fake-vampire from his mind.

The next morning, Sam checked out of the hotel, and drove the last two-hours to the town that Dean and his father were staying at. It was called Kindertown. The first hotel in the phone book, the Kindertown-Inn, was nice. Walking in under rows of lights, Sam checked the registry for a Dean Haselhoff, and walked up to their room on the second floor. Clearing his throat, Sam knocked on the door.

Dean was the last to hear the knock on the door, and set down his beer when John went to answer it. One lock, then two were undone, and then he opened the door. "Well look who we have here!"

Dean swore inwardly. He had been hoping to get to Sam before his father, or at least tell John that he had invited Sam.

"Hey dad." Sam had that tone to his voice that said that he was expecting a fight. Dean knew how easily John and him were at each other's throats, and Sam was… _not_.

"Look at that. Mr. College boy managed to find us. I guess all that law-crap is good for something." John was happy to see Sam, Dean knew, but seemed eager to pick a fight. He hadn't exactly let Sam go at the best of terms.

"If you want me to go"-

"I don't think I said that! What, are you a mind reader now?"

Sam scoffed. "I wasn't dragged here to fight, so do you want my help or not?"

"I thought you were 'done' with hunting." John crossed his arms.

"Stop it both of you!" Sam and John both turned to Dean. "Dad, I told him to come. And Sam, don't make things worse!" Neither of them said anything, and Dean continued. "Now get inside before our beer goes flat. Sam, you can have the couch tonight. Dad and I are already moved in."

Soon, John and Dean were filling in Sam about what had happened. Sam and John were behaving, for now at least. It was clear that they both were still uncomfortable about the last big argument they had before Sam left.

"So this kid Percy goes missing, a day before his dad is found dead." Dean walked back and forth. "And when dear old mommy-dearest gets home and finds him, she has no clue what to do."

"Checks herself into a mental institute." John continued.

"And the police don't get a statement until a week later. We searched the house, the kid's school, nothing!"

"Except for the fact that the father was torn to shreds, teeth marks all over and blood leaking everywhere. There was barely enough of him left to do an autopsy." John raved.

"Sounds like a vampire to me." Sam sighed. "So the mom checked _herself _into the mental institute? Why would she do that?"

Dean shrugged. "She said that it was too much stress, what with Percy disappearing and her husband being torn to shreds. They say it was attempted murder."

"So what happened to the Percy?"

"We don't know yet. The kid was only nine, not much snack for a vampire, but I doubt that they would bother turning him."

**"And his body hasn't turned up yet." John added. "So if the kid is still alive, he either got away somehow or he is at their nest."**

**"Is this the only family that had been affected?" Sam looked from his brother to father. "How do you know that it's a vampire for sure?"**

**Dean hesitated, and then shrugged at John. "We don't for sure. But by the way it went down, we know something is going on. I would bet that the mother saw something. No one in their right mind would go to a mental hospital with that much ease unless they thought they were going insane." Dean noticed that Sam gulped, but didn't say anything. **

**"Tomorrow, I will talk to the autopsy doctor again, and you and Dean can talk to the crazy mother."**

**"Fine." Dean and Sam both said in unison. Dean was surprised how easily Sam gave in to those orders. Maybe his family **_**was**_** trying to get along.**

**Dean couldn't sleep that night. Something was just wrong. Sam had come all the way to Canada without even a second thought. He was even trying to get along with Dad. The weirdest thing, Dean thought, was how Sam had reacted when Dean was talking about mental institutes and the crazy mother. Sam was hiding something, but what?**

**The next morning, John declared that he would be checking out the room next door for himself, because there weren't enough beds for them all. Dean figured that was best, so he could keep an eye on Sam. **

**Sam smiled at Jess's musical laugh at the other end of the phone. "Well if he suggested it I would go ahead Jess." Sam nodded to something Jess said. "Anything a doctor of that much talent says goes. Don't worry about how much it costs." He flipped a fake credit card through his hand. "I know a friend who can lend me some money."**

**Dean walked through the door with two bags of groceries, and Sam lowered his voice. "Okay I have to go. Love you. Talk to you in a day or two." Sam hung up. **

**"Um… I love you two?" Dean took a bite of a hot sub he bought down the road. "So who were you really talking too? Cause I wont take that kind of greeting."**

**Sam wasn't sure what to say. He had to tell Dean and his father about Jess… especially with the baby on the way. He figured he should try and tell his father first. John would kill him if he found out he was the last one to know. "Um…"He figured Dean could know a little at least. "My girlfriend."**

**"Really?" Dean made a mocking face at Sam. "Surprise, surprise." **

**"Bite me." Sam returned the look. He forgot how much he had missed Dean and his antics.**

**"So how long will she take to realize how much of a freak you are?" Dean took another bite. "You freakishly smart young man you."**

**"Well Jess hasn't yet. Another year or so it's been already." **

**Dean frowned, giving Sam a weird look. "That long? You think I would have met her by now."**

**"Yeah." It had just gotten awkward again. "Its just with the fight and all.."**

**Dean sighed. "Well your back now. That's all that counts." He paused. "So does dad know about Jess?"**

**"Not yet. I'm trying to find a good time to tell him. Besides," he thought back to the nice looking jewelry store he passed on the way to the hotel. "I have something to do first."**

**"Yeah." Dean took another bite of his sandwich, gave Sam a push and turned on the TV. "Like giving some vampires a little American spirit. Besides, you could use the work. That girlfriend of yours probably has you whipped by now, buying baby clothes and crap."**

**Sam nearly choked on his beer, another sign of something weird that Dean noticed. But Sam quickly recovered, giving Dean a bigger push back before sitting on the couch. "So what about these vampires? Does dad have a locale yet?"**

**"He should have something by noon or so." Dean took the chair, and grabbed the remote from Sam. **

**"Hey!" **

**"Like I said," Dean, laughed back, and Sam smiled inwardly at the fact that he had his family back. "You're whipped."**


	3. Chapter 3

**"So how long has it been since they started the investigations?" Sam asked politely in his calmest voice, and the mother shook her head, looking back out the window.**

**"A month."**

**"And that is when you applied for counseling?"**

**"Yes."**

**Sam wrote down some things on a form, and Dean cleared his throat so the mother would look back at them. "And how has that been going for you Mrs. Patterson?"**

**"Oh, call me Margaret." She chimed. "It's been… different. Hard. My son… my husband." She shook her head again.**

**"When was the last time you talked to your son?" Dean gave Sam a wink as he jerked his head subtlety to a clown poster on the wall saying 'Don't Worry, Be Happy!'**

**"Um… He was just about to go to school. It was a Monday I think. He had been talking about some problems he'd been having. These other boys had been bothering him. You know how teenagers get. Well anyways I gave him his lunch, and the bus picked him up from the farm." **

**"What about your husband?"**

**"Well Percy hadn't come home from school that day, and I was very worried. Frank said it was all right. Teenagers out late, he said. But then morning came and gone and Percy never came home. Frank went to contact emergency services, and I stopped by the school. When I got back… Frank was…"**

**Sam and Dean exchanged glances. "Was there anything…. unusual that Percy or Frank had mentioned in the days before his death? Like dreams, seeing things" –**

**"I don't see what that has to do with anything!"**

_**Oh God, kill me now.**_ **"Its just part of the investigation."**

**"Nothing other than what I already told you. Frank was fine. Percy was… well he was okay. But he never mentioned to me anything… **_**weird.**_**"**

**"Does your family have any enemies?" **

**Margaret laughed, almost hysterically. "Enemies? No! We minded our own business and kept our noses down."**

**Sam frowned. "What about those boys, the ones at school?"**

**"Well… they never really meant anything they said."**

**"Like what?" Dean interrupted, taking a gulp of coffee. "What did they say to Percy?"**

**"Oh just boy things, you know." Margaret was looking very uncomfortable. "They threatened to beat him up, stuff like that. But nothing ever became of that. They were just tough kids who thought they were gangsters."**

**"Thank you Margaret. I think we have everything we need here."**

**"Oh! Call me Margaret!" Dean piped, laughing as they drove back to the hotel. "Sam I'm surprised she didn't make a move on you then and there!"**

**"**_**I'm**_** surprised that she wasn't more upset." Sam cut Dean off. She acted like it for a while…. But why wasn't she more concerned with those threats to her son? She definitely didn't seem like a mental institute kind of person. Isn't there supposed to be some grieving involved?"**

**"And if she loved her husband so much, why the heck was she hitting on you?"**

**Sam looked out the window. They were just passing the Jewelry store. 'The Gifts of Love', the sign said above a selection of engagement rings. Canadian diamonds were supposed to be the best in the world. "Hey, can we stop here?"**

**"Why?" Dean asked sarcastically. "You car-sic?"**

**"No I…"Sam saw the used bookstore across the street. "I'm going to see if they have anything about vampires in Canadian books. You never know."**

**"Good idea. And while you are in there, get that girls number." Dean pointed to an attractive shopkeeper sweeping up some broken glass outside the store.**

**"Um… Dean, I have a girlfriend."**

**Dean gave Sam a punch on the arm, handing him a piece of paper. "Its not for you."  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**Sam hovered over a diamond engagement ring under the glass before him. "That is silver, and those are real emeralds. And a diamonds, of course."**

"**How much are you asking?" Sam asked nervously. It was perfect, but he hoped he could afford it. It was better than any ring he had seen here, or in the USA for that matter.**

"**We have a price list here." The woman grabbed a sheet from the counter behind her, and pointed to the diamond ring in the list. **

**It was more than he had been prepared for. Sam gave the other rings a glance. None of them were good enough for Jessica. He looked up at the cashier. "Can I see it?"**

"**Of course." The woman unlocked the glass case and removed the ring, setting it on the table. Sam picked up the ring in its holder. It was beautiful, and the perfect size for Jess's finger. He had already decided. **

"**I would like to see a certificate of authenticity please." Sam dug his credit card from his pocket, and set it on the table, along with the ring. "So I can buy it."**

**The woman smiled. "Good. I will get that ready for you Mr.…. Brukavits. She looked at his credit card, digging out some forms. "Now if you could please sign here."**

* * *

"**Now I hope you at least got me her number if it took you that long!" Dean pointed at the single vampire book Sam brought home. "You were gone like three hours!"**

"**The bookstore was a lot less organized then it looks from the outside." Sam lied through his teeth, gesturing with the book in his hand like he walked on water to get it. "And no, I did not get you her number."**

"**Well what were you doing then?" Dean shrugged. "Talking on the phone with your **_**girlfriend**_**?" He smiled mischievously. **

"**No." Sam smiled back. "And for the record, I am not whipped."**

"**Sure, sure." Dean took the book from Sam. "So what did you tell Jessica anyways, about coming here?"**

"**I told her I needed to do some legal stuff with the family."**

"**So you didn't tell her?" Dean handed Sam the book back. **

"**I just said that…."**

"**No the secret. Did you tell her?"**

**Sam looked at Dean for a moment, shocked. He didn't know what to say. "Well no. I want to keep her safe Dean."**

"**And you think that lying to her is the best way to keep her safe?" Dean threw his arms in the air.**

"**Well what should I do Dean? Tell her that monsters are real, and that I hunt them. Do you really expect her to believe that?" Sam couldn't believe Dean. **_**How would **_**you**_** know what's best for her?**_

"**Well it's worth a try." Dean shrugged. "What do you have to loose?"**

**Sam shook his head. "You really don't get it, do you? I have **_**her**_** to loose, and" – Sam cut himself off before he said **_**the baby.**_

"**I get that you love her." Dean argued. "I get it. But maybe there is a way to let her know at least something. I don't exactly want to tell her our family biography. But if she is as important to you as you say,"He shrugged. "Let her in a little."**

**Sam frowned at Dean, amazed. "Since when have you become the relationship expert all of a sudden?"**

**Dean gave Sam a half smile. "I'll tell you that when you get me that girl's number Sammy."**

"**Sammy? We are not going back to that. It took me forever to get you to stop calling me that."**

"**Too bad Sammy. Oldest child makes the house rules."**

"**Hey boys." John walked in, throwing a clipboard on the table and undoing a tie. Sam and Dean stood up.**

"**Dad." Sam tried not to laugh. "Coming back from a wedding?"**

"**Very funny. John took the tie and jacket off, and threw them on the couch. "I just talked to the lady at the obituary. You want to know what they said?"**

"**Sure." Dean answered. "Anything about blood sucking people?"**

"**That's the thing." John sighed. "They officially claim it was a wolf attack. I saw the body myself. It was wrecked."  
" Really?" Both boys asked together.**

"**So… we don't think its vampires anymore?" Sam asked John, leaning on the table. **

"**I don't know what to think anymore Sam." John shook his head. "I've never seen anything like it. Only werewolves leave those kinds of trails, but the lunar cycle isn't right. The heart wasn't missing. Vampires still make sense. But why so messy?"**

**Sam's cell phone rang, and he answered it, walking to the other side of the room. "Hello?"**

"**Sam." Jess's voice answered. She didn't sound too happy.**

"**Jess? Is everything alright?" Sam sat on the bed, talking quiet so he could have at least a little privacy. Dean and John gave him weird 'What's going on?' looks, but Dean already knew about Jess. John was a little more confused.**

"**I was just talking to the doctor from mammogram."**

"**And?" Sam couldn't help keeping the worry from his voice.**

"**He says there are a few complications. That I'm at risk of miscarriage."**

**Sam's face fell. "What?" He never considered complications. "What do you mean complications?"**

"**I don't know Sam. I don't know it all yet, I'm still in the waiting room."**

"**Well I…"Sam's head was spinning. " Are you okay?"**

"**Physically."**

**Sam sighed. "We will be fine. It will be fine, I promise. These things happen all the time." He assured her, but wasn't sure he believed himself.**

**"Sam the doctors are calling me back in now. I will call you back tomorrow."**

**"Tell me how it goes."**

* * *

**Jess hung up, and Sam sat there for a second. He straightened his face. **_**It will be okay.**_** He stood and turned to his brother and father. "I think we forgot to get some stuff on the grocery list. I'll be right back." He walked out the door, down the steps, and around the corner. Sitting on the curb, Sam took a deep breath, and heard Dean's footsteps behind him.**

**"Dude, what was that about?" Dean sat down beside him, and frowned when he saw the look on Sam's face. **

**"That was Jess." **

**"Is she alright?" **

**"I think so…"Sam took a deep breath. " I haven't really been honest with you and dad."**

**"About…?" Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam. **

**"Jess. She's pregnant." Sam met Dean's eyes. **

**"Dude. You for real?" Dean was smiling.**

**"Yeah. No joke."**

**"Attaboy Sammy!" Dean patted him on the back, and he scoffed.**

**Sam nodded.**

**Dean studied Sam's face. "You don't look very exited. Don't you want" –**

**"Of course I do." Sam cut Dean off. "Jess just called from the hospital. She…"He took another deep breath. **

**"She what?" **

**"There have been some complications. She just got the results from the first ultrasound."**

**"What kind of complications?"**

**"Don't know yet." Sam shrugged. "She's gona call me back."**

**"So I always knew you would settle down… but this is crazy man." Dean gave Sam a little shove. **

**"I'm hating how calm you are right now."**

**"Sammy, this… its understandable. But Jessica **_**will**_** be okay. There are always complications."**

**"And its not like I'm not prepared." Sam dug in his pocket and dug out the ring. Dean gave him another look before opening it. **

**Dean's eyes widened. "Dude you guy's are for real."**

"**And the fact that Jess is pregnant didn't tell you that?" Sam laughed.**

"**Well…"Dean laughed, and they stood up. He gave Sam the ring back. He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I'm… you know… proud of you Sammy. This is really going to happen."**

"**Yeah." Sam smiled. "It is."**

"**And for the record. Jess **_**is **_**going to be okay."**

"**I know." Sam sighed. "Now maybe I can tell dad. I need to tell him sometime."**

"**Yeah, but man." Dean laughed. "He is going to kill you for telling me first." **

"**I know." Sam's phone buzzed, and he picked it up. It was a forwarded picture from Jessica's phone of the ultrasound. He smiled. "I could just show him this."**

**Dean took a look. "Dude that peanut or whatever wont tell him anything. I can't even tell that's a baby on that little screen."**

"**I don't think _you_**** would be able to tell normally."**

**Dean ignored the comment on his brains, giving his brother a little shove. "Bitch."**

**"Jerk."**


	5. Chapter 5

_**"Why Sam?"**_

**Sam raised his hands, shouting against the flames. Jess screamed. "Suddenly it was over. He looked up again.**

_**Drip.**_

**"Morning, sleeping beauty." **

**Sam rolled over, shutting out Dean's voice. When was the last time he got any real sleep?**

**"Get up man," Dean tugged the blankets off, and threw them on the floor. "Dad found a new lead."**

**"What?" Sam sat up, as alert as he could be considering. "What did he find?"**

**"Some guy showed up in autopsy. They have no clue who he is. And guess what they found."**

**"Bite marks." **_**Finally, **_**Sam thought to himself. Finally they could kill these things and he could get back home to Jessica, college and normalcy. **_**I can't believe I took this job.**_

**Dean pulled on his leather jacket. "And the unlucky son of a gun was found on the highway outside the old skate park outside of town. No one even goes there anymore." He took a swig of his coffee. "So we figure that's where the nest is."**

**"Good." Sam rubbed the sleep from his eyes. **

**"So I guess you miss your girlfriend." Dean gave Sam a searching look.**

**Sam paused. "What?"**

**"When I woke you up, you were shouting Jessica's name." Dean pointed at Sam with his cup. "Were you having a nightmare or something?"**

**"No." Sam shook his head. "Well yeah, but…No big deal." Sam shrugged to hide the fib.**

**"Well if you have any more of those I swear I'm going to throttle you." Dean waited as Sam put on his boots and jacket. **

**"Any more…"Sam didn't think that Dean had noticed. Had he shouted out to Jess in his dreams as she was burning? Sam shook his head at the thought. "I didn't know you knew about that."**

**"Its been three days now Sam. I notice when you drink enough caffeine to keep a camel awake because you never get any sleep." He nodded knowingly to a lukewarm cup still by Sam's bed. "Are you going to tell me you're psychosomatic now?"**

**"Big words Dean. I'm impressed." Sam's head hurt. If he had been reacting this bad to the nightmares, no wonder Jess had been worried. "But no, I am not mental."**

**"We will let dad decide that when he gets here." Dean shot back. "But seriously, you okay?"**

**"I swear, if you ask me that one more time I **_**might**_** go mental. Nightmares are no big deal. I'm fine. It's just stress from the" –**

**"Oh, **_**Hey**__**dad**_**." Dean said it a little too loud so Sam would shut up and turn around. **

**"Oh, hey dad."**

**"Nightmares," John seemed concerned, but acted casual. "What's this now?"**

**Dean gave Sam a "You've got to tell him sometime" look. "Sam wouldn't shut up last night. Or the night before." **

**"What kind of nightmares?"**

Dean raised his eyebrows at Sam. "I don't know yet."

"What is this, an interrogation?" Sam wished he had had a coffee to sip from and look nonchalant like his brother. "I think with this job I'm entitled to an occasional bad dream. At least I don't sleep with a knife under my pillow." He looked at Dean knowingly, then to his dad. "So are we going to the nest or what?"

John watched Sam for a second.

Dean shrugged. "Sure."

Sam met his dad's eyes. He felt as if he was being judged. Did John know something Sam didn't?

"Grab me a coffee and I'm fine." Sam forced a laugh, grabbing a rifle and loading it with bullets pre-soaked with dead man's blood. "So how many do you figure we're going up against?"

"Umm…"Dean grabbed a machete after loading his gun. " Anywhere from three to twenty… Something like that." He tossed a machete to John.

"Oh great…"Sam sighed sarcastically. " Good to know you are paying attention."

"I get my beauty sleep." Dean replied. "Unlike some people."

Sam let the joke roll off him. If Dean knew how bad it was, he wouldn't be bugging Sam anyhow. Sam wondered if he should tell them. He wondered how weird it would sound if he just burst out and told his family everything. _'So… I'm going to purpose to my girlfriend Jessica and I love her and she's pregnant. Oh, and I've been having dreams about her dying on the ceiling for two weeks now… just like our mom died. No biggie or anything!' _Sam grabbed a machete from Dean, shaking of the negative feeling from the dream. There would be an opportunity to tell Dean and his father about Jess…but not now. Besides, Sam wasn't even sure if he was going to tell them about the dreams. They were probably just stress from Jess's pregnancy. And he knew John and Dean would ask questions he didn't want to talk about. John would check for similarities to Mary's death. Dean would ask about demonic possession and poltergeist signs.

And Sam also knew that admitting that the dreams coming true were a possibility… made it a possibility. And it wasn't. No chance. Sam wouldn't let anything like that happen.

They all piled into the Impala outside, and John took the backseat. Dean turned on some Metallica, and Sam checked his text messages and voicemail. None from Jess. Why wasn't she answering his calls? How did the autopsy go?

Dean gave Sam a knowing look. He had to tell dad _soon_.

"So how far away is the skate-park dad?" Dean called over his shoulder as he pulled out of the driveway.

"About ten minutes once you hit the edge of town. It's surprising how inconspicuous it's been actually. The locals have just started to get suspicious."

Sam nodded, double-checking his phone. "Any cattle mutilations?"

"What?!" Dean interrupted. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Well in the book I bought from the Canadian store it mentions cattle mutilations as being a clue to vampirism."

"I've read that too." John spoke up from the backseat. "They drink cows blood as a temporary blood supply until they can find a human. Explains why they came to the prairies, with all the farming they do here."

Dean nodded. "Makes sense. So _have_ there been any?"

"Not that I know of." John shrugged. "Nothing in record."

"This kills!" Dean turned down the Metallica for a second as a bunch of kids ran in front of the car. "We are trying to find vampires in the middle of Halloween season. This is the worst holiday ever!"

"Yeah." Sam agreed. "…It sucks."

Dean rolled his eyes. "Great to know you're so energetic for the hunt sparkie."

"Just reading." Sam gestured with his phone, and Dean gave him another annoying 'knowing' look. He wasn't going to tell dad now!

"Here we are." Ten minutes later John pointed to a side road partially hidden by trees, and Dean gave the Impala a sharp turn to their left. They followed it until they saw the skate park and an old farmhouse. Dean put the car in park, Sam turned off his phone and they all got out of the car.

Grabbing a few choice items: machetes, guns with the special bullets, and some salt and holly water for good measure, the guys headed out down the trail. They walked quietly. Even though the vampires should be sleeping now in the daytime, they could be woken up. And it didn't help that the sun made the boys easier to see.

John, Sam and Dean leaned against either side of the front door to the house, guns at the ready. John nodded to Dean, and Sam moved into the ready beside his father, and picked the lock quick enough to impress him. Not that that mattered right now, Sam thought, but it was nice to know he hadn't forgotten to do the job.

Dean opened the door slowly, and they stepped into the house in single file. Sam's machete case clinked against his side under his jacket, and he tightened his hold on his gun as they lined up in front of the basement door.

Knowing how important it was to be quiet, Sam opened the door quietly and headed down the cold damp stairs. John followed, then Dean. They got to the bottom, and slowed down as they came to a long hallway. Walking down it, they peaked in all the rooms until they came to what looked like a very large boiler room. Turning the large handle slowly, they opened the door to find what was left of old beds and blankets. A jar of what appeared to be blood sat on a dresser. They were in the nest, but it was empty. No one was there. They had all disapeared.


	6. Chapter 6

**Dean lowered his gun. **_**What the hell?**_** He marched ahead as Sam and his father searched the basement. They looked under the boilers, in the beds, behind the curtains. There was no one there. "I thought the body was found here last night!" Dean glared at the sick-looking jar of blood on the counter. It looked fresh. **

**"They must have found out about us some how." Sam kicked an open chest on the floor by an unmade bed. **

**"Did either of you boys talk to anyone who seemed suspicious while you were in town?" John questioned. "Did you tell anyone anything?"**

**"No." They both answered. Dean knew better than that, and he knew that Sam did too. Still, Sam was hiding things from him. Sam didn't tell him about his girlfriend being pregnant. And now Sam is having these mysterious dreams that he doesn't want to talk about? Dean wondered if Sam was lying about who he talked to.**

**"We should search upstairs. Just in case." Sam cut in, and Dean nodded, eager to question his brother.**

**"I will go with." Dean trotted after his brother up the stairs.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**John sighed deeply, putting his gun away. There wouldn't be any vampires here. **

**He heard the thumping of his son's footsteps above him. Dean was probably in the lead, as usual. He was the protective older brother. The tough, loyal son. The strong silent one. **

**And Sam, he was the smart independent one. Sam knew what he wanted and went for it, and that was probably why it was so easy to get into fights with him. John shook his head. Why did Sam and he get into so many arguments? Did Sam hate hunting so much? He probably would never feel about hunting the way his brother did. **

**John wondered how he ended up with sons with such different views of their lives. Dean had grown up so fast, and had relished the hunting skills he gained, taking on any and all responsibility he could. Since Marry died, he had taken care of Sam so well. He wanted his little brother to be a kid as long as possible, although it didn't work out that well. Sam wanted to me normal ever since he found out the truth. He wanted to play soccer and go to College, not learn bow-hunting and melting silver. How could Sam put his family aside to run away to Stanford? How could anyone who knew the truth want to be normal in the first place? **

**John knew that Sam would never be normal, even though he hoped for it every day. Like those nightmares he had heard Sam and Dean talking about…. What was that about? And why was Sam so defensive?**

**What Sam _didn't_ know was that John stopped by Stanford sometimes, just to check up on him. Sam probably thought that his father hated him. John didn't. _Of course not._ John just couldn't believe why Sam would want to leave everything behind. John wanted him to be happy. To be safe. Why couldn't his son understand that?**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Sam peeked around the corner of the door to the master bedroom. No one was there, just like he predicted. Dean had gone to check the barn, just in case. John was upstairs. **

**Sitting nimbly on the bed, Sam rolled his shoulders. He was so tired. He never thought that nightmares could make him loose so much sleep. Being tired was dangerous on a hunt. But it didn't sound so crazy to just fall asleep then and there. But he didn't know who… _or what_… had been in the bed last, so he just sat there. **

**_What was that smell?_ Sam let himself think for a moment. It wasn't blood. He knew that. It wasn't rotting meat, or any other smell he familiarized with vampires. After a while it began to bother him. Something wasn't right. Standing up, he looked to the open window. The curtains were billowing in the breeze, and the only smell he recognized were the fields outside. He rested his hand on the windowsill.**

**_What is that? _Sam lifted his hand to his face. There was a light yellow powder on the windowsill. Smelled like rotten eggs. Sulphur.**

**He turned around quickly, pointing the now useless gun at the doorway. There was nothing there. Looking around, Sam noticed a piece of paper taped to the ceiling. He stepped on the bed, pulling at the tape until the piece of paper broke free. It fell to the ground, and he jumped down to get it. Picking it up, he turned it around, frowning at the message. His heart nearly stopped. It read:**

**_Sweet Dreams._**

_**Aren't you glad you didn't answer your phone?**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Sam stared at the note, perplexed. How did they know Jess was going to call him? How did they know about the nightmares? He swallowed, taking a deep breath and keeping his gun at the ready. There had been sulphur. That meant demons. But why would a demon show up in a vampire's nest? **_**An empty nest.**_** Sam stuffed the note in his pocket, analyzing the options. Basically, it all came down to the fact that he was being followed. But how could a demon know about a dream he had? And what had the demon meant by "Aren't you glad you didn't answer your phone?" Was something wrong with Jess?**

**Sam was about to reach for his cell. **

"**It's empty. **_**Nothing**_** and no one is here." Dean busted through the door angrily. "They must have got wind that we were coming."**

"**Must have." Sam nodded. "Hey Dean…"Sam cleared his throat. " There's something that…"**

"**What?"**

**Sam hesitated. He didn't know why, but he want to say anything about the note. It wasn't that he wasn't afraid. He was. But for some reason, Sam thought he should deal with this himself.**

**The ride home was uncomfortable. John sat shotgun, and Sam sat in the back itching to check his messages but unable to with his father and Dean in the car. He eventually did a quick scan and saw that Jess hadn't left any voicemail or text. Dean sat quietly and blared AC/DC on the stereo, fuming about missing the hunt. Any time John looked at Sam, he seemed to me analyzing him. **_**Stop looking at me like that. **_

"So what now?" Sam questioned to break the ice.

**"Dono…"Dean shrugged. " Hunt 'em down I guess."**

**John gave Sam that searching look again.**

"**Why are you looking at me like that?" Sam's eyebrows met.**

"**What's wrong?"**

"**I'm fine." He shrugged. "Just pissed about the hunt, that's all."**

"**Well you don't look fine." John argued. "You've been acting weird all day."**

"**Have I?" Sam replied half-heartedly. "Just comes with being the freak of the family I guess." **

"**Guys…"Dean moaned. " Don't do this again."**

"**Don't try to turn this around on me," John ignored his son. "You just show up here and pretend that nothing happened and that you never abandoned us."**

"**I was just trying to go to college! You were the one who kicked me out."**

"**Because I couldn't watch you throw your life away!" John argued back. **

"**Dad! Sam!" Dean honked the horn loudly a couple times. **

"**I don't need to be dependent on you for every little thing. I wanted my own life," Sam ignored Dean's protests. **

"**And you think the people there can help you do that?" John shook his head angrily. "Are you even happy there?"**

"**I'm not a kid! I don't need you to approve my friends, or any of the other people in my life."**

"**Obviously not, because you can throw your life away without my help now, can't you! So much for caring about your family!"**

"**I followed you around at this job for twenty years! I wanted to start my own life. I worked my ass off to go to Stanford, and you shoot me down. That is _not_ caring about family!"**

**Dean pulled the Impala over at the side of the road, and turned around to John and Sam. "Shut up, both of you!" He glared at both of them in turn. "Sam, stop blaming the whole fight on dad. You were involved too. And dad," he turned to John. "Sam has a pretty decent life at Stanford. So stop acting like he sold himself to slavery or something."**

**The three men glared at each other for a few seconds before Sam's phone rang. "You going to get that?" John asked eventually, angry but subdued.**

**Sam swallowed. Maybe that was the demon. Should he answer it? He pulled it out of his jacket pocket, leaving the car. He walked a far enough to be well out of earshot. "Hello?"**

"**Sam…"A voice cried from the other end. It was Jess.**

"**Jess what's wrong?" Sam tried not to sound too worried, even though he was. **

**Dean and John got out of the car behind him, watching Sam from afar and wondering what was going on.**

"**I went in for screening this morning…"Jess sniffled. " I called but you didn't pick up."**

"**I'm sorry. I was busy. I didn't know when you were going to call." Sam looked to Dean, who raised an eyebrow. Dean knew whom Sam was talking to. "How did it go?"**

"**How do you think?"**

**Sam didn't say anything. "Well… it can't be that bad can it? I know the doctors said there was risk, but" –**

"**There's no risk, Sam," Jess let out a muffled sob from the other end of the phone. "It's too late."**

"**What?"**

"**I lost the baby Sam."**


	8. Chapter 8

Sam stared at the phone in shock. It couldn't be. Jess had been fine when he left. The baby had been fine. Heck, he had even bought a little t-shirt in the airport. It was just…

**"Sam?" Jess asked from the other end. "Are you there?"**

**"Yeah I just…"Sam pinched the bridge of his nose in thought. " I thought we were doing everything right. I mean…"**

"I tried Sam!" Jess sobbed.

**"No I didn't mean it like that," Sam shook his head, even though Jess couldn't see it. **

**"The doctors don't know what happened. I mean… at the first screening, I **_**saw**_** the baby. And now it's just…"She let out another sob.**

** "I should have gone there with you," Sam whispered into the phone. "I don't even know why I came here in the first place."**

**"I'm sorry…"**

**"No," Sam argued. "Don't be. This happens all the time Jess. We can get trough this."**

**"I…"Jess sniffled. " I'm going to call you tomorrow."**

**Sam didn't want Jess to hang up. He wanted to talk to her all night. But she was tired. So was he. "I will be there as soon as I can. I love you." Jess had already hung up.**

**His hand falling to his side, Sam slid the phone back into his pocket, taking a few deep breaths. **_**It'll be okay,**_** he told himself. **_**It will be fine.**_

__**"Sam?" Dean started walking towards his brother. He must have seen the look on Sam's face. **

**Sam looked up and tried to regain his composure, but it wasn't really working.**

**"Dude," Dean put a hand on Sam's shoulder, frowning. "You okay?"**

**"I um…"Sam hesitated, looking away. " I don't know."**

**John watched from the car, obviously worried but afraid to stir the pot after their fight.**

**"What happened? Who was that?"**

**"Jess," Sam tried to keep his voice calm.**

**"Is she okay?"**

**"Sort of. She um…we lost the baby," Sam choked out. "I shouldn't have left."**

**"I'm sorry man," Dean gave Sam a sad look. "I know how exited you were about that…"**

**"Yeah," Sam clenched his jaw muscles. "I think I'm just going to walk around for a bit. I'll meet you back in the hotel."**

**Dean nodded. "You sure you're alright?"**

**"I'll be fine," Sam gave Dean a little fake smile. "Just tell dad I'll be there in a bit."**

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXsXXXXXXXXXXX

**Dean walked back to the car, gave Sam one last look and jerked his head at John. "Sam will meet us back at the hotel."**

**John looked a little hurt that Sam wouldn't share with him what was going on, but obediently got into the car. "He okay?"**

**"Yeah," Dean lied. "Just needs some fresh air."**

**John ignored the lie, sighing deeply. "Who was that?"**

**Dean couldn't help sighing also. They both grew solemn. "Sam's girlfriend."**

**"Is she alright?" **

**Dean shook his head, and started driving. "If you guys stopped jumping down each other's throats all the time, Sam might have had the time to tell you."**

**"Tell me what?"**

**"Maybe you should ask your son!" Dean answered a bit angrily. "Look dad, you didn't exactly send him out into the world on the best of terms. No disrespect or anything, but I'm surprised he came here to help us at all. How was he supposed to get the nerve to tell us anything?"**

**John looked out the window guiltily. "He told you, didn't he?"**

**"Not exactly… Besides," Dean cleared his throat and looked back to the road. "**_**I**_** didn't kick him out."**

**John didn't say anything to this, which surprised Dean greatly. He kept his eyes on the road from then on, and they got to the hotel within five minutes. **

**"So," Dean collapsed on the couch. "How do you think they found us? I mean, I sure as hell didn't tell anyone."**

**"Once a vampire gets your sent," John took a look through their fridge. "It's for life. We had better be careful."**

**"Maybe they just moved on. You know, got their fare share of food and left for a new town."**

**"No," John argued. "There have only been five deaths in the past eight weeks. That is barely above average."**

**Dean snorted. "This is a small town. Even in a small city, the death count is way higher than this place. It's got an average of what, six thousand?"**

**"Sounds about right."**

**"People were getting suspicious. Especially us. They would have left in a hurry if they realized what we wanted."**

**John nodded, but his expression said that his thoughts were on something else. "I tend to egg Sam on a lot, don't I?" He looked up at Dean, who was taken aback.**

**"Sam's just as bad." Dean wasn't used to seeing his father like this. It was weird. John was always controlled.**

**"This girlfriend of his," John continued slowly. "Sam must really care about her to be that upset."**

**"It's scary actually," Dean smiled. "I think she's the one. Sam sure believes it."**

**"Good…"**

**Dean watched John for a minute. "Dad, are you okay?"**

**"I think I messed up Dean."**

**"What?"**

**"I messed up. Sam wont even let me in anymore. Every time I ask him what's going on, if he's okay, he gets defensive. And I don't even know how to fix it."**

**"Dad, I'm not Opra." Dean was unsure what to say. "You don't have to change for Sam. Just stop being his drill sergeant. Sam isn't exactly the type of person to hide his feelings. If he knows your there for him… he will open up. A beer might help too."**

**"I don't know," John said. "I think he's really hiding something from me. I mean… what was that about the nightmare this morning? If it was no big deal, he should have just **_**told**_** me what was going on."**

**"I don't know," Dean admitted. "He's been having them since he got here. Said they were just stress."**

**John didn't seem convinced, but he looked up at Dean with a half-smile. "Must be."**

**Dean's cell rang, and he answered quickly. "Sam? You okay?"**

**"Calm down Dean," Sam's voice was a little rough, but otherwise calm. "I'm close to a grocery store. Do you need anything?"**

**"Um…"Dean wanted Sam home as soon as possible, but knew that if he said no Sam would know he was lying. Sam knew how protective his brother was. "Just a six-pack. Maybe a couple of TV dinners."**

**"Kay." Dean could hear the noises from outside. "I'll be there in ten."**

**"Thanks."**

**They both hung up, Dean cursing himself inwardly for not saying something to his brother to make him feel better. **_**But we're not kids anymore. Sam won't accept stupid comments or distractions this time.**_

The door opened quietly around six o'clock, and Sam snuck quietly in, holding two bags of groceries in one hand and his keys in the other. "Hey," He nodded to Dean and John, who were watching TV. He pulled two beers from the carton and dropped them on the couch beside Dean, before escaping into the bedroom. Flipping through his suitcase, Sam made sure all of his stuff was there, and stuffed his toothbrush in last. Then, he just sat on the bed thinking for a few minutes until someone came into check up on him. Knowing his family, it was only a matter of time.

"Hey," John leaned against the doorframe, giving Sam an apologetic smile. "Feeling better?"

Sam nodded, looking at the ground. He felt like he was twelve.

John walked over, and sat on the bed across from Sam and handed him a drink as a peace treaty. "Dean said something was wrong with your girlfriend. Is she sick?"

"No. It's not like that. Its just…"Sam faded off. "I wanted to tell you." He looked up at John. "I just didn't' know how."

"Tell me what?"

"My girlfriend Jess. She's um…. Pregnant." Sam looked back to his drink. "Was."

John didn't say anything for a while, and Sam looked back up to study his father's face. "Miscarried?"

"Yeah."

John sighed, taking a sip of his beer. "I'm just starting to realize how big of a mistake it was, that fight we had. I know neither of us wanted it to end that badly. We're both too stubborn for our own goods."

Sam raised his eyebrows a little, confused.

"What I'm trying to say Sam," John said. "Is that I'm sorry. I should have been there. That… that's a big deal. I wish I had known."

"I should have told you." Sam apologized.

"I mean… how bad would it have been if I didn't know that I was a grandfather?"

Sam couldn't help snorting at that. "Almost as bad at me not telling you in the first place."

John nodded, and they both grew quiet again. "Are we… are we okay?"

Sam looked back up at his father. "Yeah. We're good." He hesitated, pulling a little box from his pocket. "Which is why I should probably show you this before we end up doing the same thing all over again."

John took the box, opened it and seeing the ring, furrowed his brow. "Wow."

"Yeah." Sam smiled, waiting. "What do you think?"

"You really care about her, don't you?" John looked back at the ring with a smile of approval.

"I love her dad."

John nodded, closing the box with a sigh. "Does she know? About … us. What we do. Have you told her?"

Sam grew serious again. "No. I've been thinking… Maybe it's safer not to tell her. I mean…"He shrugged, and then looked at John with question. "If you had been a hunter before…"He paused. "Before mom died. Would you have told her?"

"I don't even know what to say to that Sam. It was Mary's death that forced me into hunting in the first place. For you its just… different."

"Well should I?"

John sighed. "Depends."

"On what?"

"On if you are going to keep on hunting, or if you are going to throw that life away for something we never had. If you are going to hunt, this girl deserves to know for her safety and yours."

Sam thought back to his dream of Jess on the ceiling. It was almost as if John was reading his mind. "I never thought I would hear you say that dad."

"Every day I wish that I would have been able to protect your mother. And if you are going into this you have to keep your guns loaded." He continued. "Our family has had its fair share of tragedies."

Sam contemplated telling his father about the nightmares. This would be the perfect time. But after everything he just said, Sam was still afraid. He didn't want to give the dreams any thought because that gave them probability. And they definitely _weren't_ going to happen. Period.

"I'll take good care of her dad." Sam gave John a tight smile. "Thanks for the talk."


	9. Chapter 9

Dean turned up the music as he drove the Impala back from the airport. Sam, as expected, had rushed back to Jessica. Not that Dean blamed him. In that situation, he probably would have done the same thing. But still… it was a shame that after two years, Sam had only been able to see them for a couple days.

Dean drove by the hotel, and almost pulled into the parking lot before continuing on. He needed some time to think first. Dad probably did too. Sam gave him quite a big load of information at once, and it would probably take a while to process it. Dean _did_ give Sam credit for fessing up though. It took guts to tell your father that you were going to be one yourself, especially when you were twenty-two and in college.

When Dean got to the end of main-street, he saw a little bar on the corner. He figured that that would be the best place to get some peace and quiet. After parking the car, he opened the door. The bar wasn't half bad. It was like a cleaner version of the roadhouse. Without hunters. Dean didn't want a table to himself, so he took one of those tall stools by the counter.

"What can I get you?" A tall slim bartender looked over her shoulder when she saw Dean sit down and set down her rag that she was using to wash the table.

"Whiskey."

The woman smiled, her dark brown ponytail swaying slightly as she reached for a bottle on one of her shelves. "A little early for a strong drink." She looked pointedly at the clock on the wall that read three o'clock.

Dean couldn't help checking the woman out as she got a glass, and she raised an eyebrow at him. "I saw that." She handed him the drink. "But since you are my only customer I'm going to let that slide. So where are you from? I think I've seen you around in the past couple of days."

"The United States." Dean took a sip.

"That's specific." The woman laughed sarcastically, giving Dean a half smile. "Can I at least get a name?"

"Dean." He answered, nodding slightly for hers.

"Nice to meet you Dean." The woman pulled out a stool of her own and sat down on the other side of the counter, adjusting her navy blue top. "I'm Megan."

"It's a pleasure." Dean smiled.

"Oh, so I have a charmer in my bar, do I?" Megan laughed, and then looked out the window.

She whistled. "That _your_ car?"

"Yep," Dean took another sip. "That's my baby."

"Let me guess," Megan bit her lip slightly, looking at the car. " Sixty-eight Chevy Impala."

"Sixty-seven."

"I was close." Megan shrugged. "You know, I swear I saw that car with some other guy yesterday. He was in the jewelry store for a couple of hours." She pointed across the street to the store. "Wouldn't miss a car like that anywhere."

"Yeah, that was my brother Sam." Dean nodded. "I'm not a big fan of letting people borrow it, but…"

"He's family." Megan nodded. "I get it."

"So," Dean frowned. "You said he was in the _jewelry_ store."

"Parked right outside. That's probably where he went."

Dean finished his drink. Jewelry. Sam must have been buying for his girlfriend Jessica. Dean wondered what the heck takes a couple hours to buy. Maybe an engagement ring…

_Way to go Sammy-boy._

"So Dean," Megan stood to refill Dean's drink. "What are you and your brother doing in Kindertown?"

"We were here looking for some old friends of my dads. But it's just my dad and I now. Sam had some issues back home to deal with."

"That doesn't' sound good." Megan gave Dean an apologetic look. "Did you ever find those old family friends?"  
"Nope." Dean shook his head. "They must have moved on."

"That's too bad." Megan chided. "I could have helped you find them. In a town like this, everybody knows everybody."

"Not everybody." Dean sighed. "What can you tell me about the old skate park farm?"

"Not much." Megan seemed surprised by the question. "Some old farmer was generous enough to donate a portion of his land to make the park, but he died a couple months later. Freak tractor accident. The kids kind of got spooked and stopped going after that. Why?"

"Nothing." Dean finished his glass and stood. "Never mind." He set the glass on the table with a smile. "See you around Megan."

"Nice talking to you Dean." She smiled back, taking the glass and setting it in the sink. "Don't be afraid to come back."

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

John pulled down all the newspaper clippings, papers and photographs stuck to the wall of the hotel room. The vampires were gone, and the nest was empty, so there was no point staying there anymore. It was just a matter of hunting them down again, and that would likely take a while. Who knew _where_ they went. All that mattered was getting to the vampires before they found them. It didn't do for Dean and Sam to have vampires on their trail for the rest of their lives. John knew that _he_ would. Dean probably would too. But Sam… He needed to get his act together. Was he a hunter or not? Was he a Winchester or not? What did he want?

Shaking his head at his own foolishness, John put the papers in an envelope and took out a pen to write an entry about the nest in his journal. It wasn't Sam's fault he didn't want to hunt. Hunting was his life as a child, and now he wanted a life of his own. Sam didn't want to abandon them, but it still hurt that he wanted something better. He didn't have the same drive as Dean did anyways. Dean remembered his mother, giving him that revenge drive that empowered John himself. But Sam was only a baby when she died. He didn't understand the hunt in the same way. Still, he had the power to be a great hunter. If he wanted to be.

John was still shocked by everything that had happened in the past few days. Sam just showed up out of the blue, with secrets like constant nightmares and a pregnant girlfriend. And he is going to purpose. It was a lot to handle.

"Hey dad." Dean walked through the door and set the hotel key on the counter, looking at the empty walls. "Are we leaving?"

"Might as well." John sighed, stuffing his journal into his bag. "Nothing left staying here for. There are other jobs out there worth investigating."

"Do you have any in mind?"

"Well this seventeen year old in Utah died from a heart attack. She was athletic, with perfect heath. Same thing happened to two other teens in the same high school."

"What are you thinking then, some pissed off spirit with a hate for healthy teenagers?" Dean questioned with a hint of sarcasm.

"Maybe." John agreed. "If we head out tonight we can make the boarder."

"Sounds good." Dean headed for the back of the room. "I will get my stuff."


	10. Chapter 10

"So Dean," Megan stood to refill Dean's drink. "What are you and your brother doing in Kindertown?"

"We were here looking for some old friends of my dads. But it's just my dad and I now. Sam had some issues back home to deal with."

"That doesn't' sound good." Megan gave Dean an apologetic look. "Did you ever find those old family friends?"  
"Nope." Dean shook his head. "They must have moved on."

"That's too bad." Megan chided. "I could have helped you find them. In a town like this, everybody knows everybody."

"Not everybody." Dean sighed. "What can you tell me about the old skate park farm?"

"Not much." Megan seemed surprised by the question. "Some old farmer was generous enough to donate a portion of his land to make the park, but he died a couple months later. Freak tractor accident. The kids kind of got spooked and stopped going after that. Why?"

"Nothing." Dean finished his glass and stood. "Never mind." He set the glass on the table with a smile. "See you around Megan."

"Nice talking to you Dean." She smiled back, taking the glass and setting it in the sink. "Don't be afraid to come back."

_XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX_

John pulled down all the newspaper clippings, papers and photographs stuck to the wall of the hotel room. The vampires were gone, and the nest was empty, so there was no point staying there anymore. It was just a matter of hunting them down again, and that would likely take a while. Who knew _where_ they went. All that mattered was getting to the vampires before they found them. It didn't do for Dean and Sam to have vampires on their trail for the rest of their lives. John knew that _he_ would. Dean probably would too. But Sam… He needed to get his act together. Was he a hunter or not? Was he a Winchester or not? What did he want?

Shaking his head at his own foolishness, John put the papers in an envelope and took out a pen to write an entry about the nest in his journal. It wasn't Sam's fault he didn't want to hunt. Hunting was his life as a child, and now he wanted a life of his own. Sam didn't want to abandon them, but it still hurt that he wanted something better. He didn't have the same drive as Dean did anyways. Dean remembered his mother, giving him that revenge drive that empowered John himself. But Sam was only a baby when she died. He didn't understand the hunt in the same way. Still, he had the power to be a great hunter. If he wanted to be.

John was still shocked by everything that had happened in the past few days. Sam just showed up out of the blue, with secrets like constant nightmares and a pregnant girlfriend. And he is going to purpose. It was a lot to handle.

"Hey dad." Dean walked through the door and set the hotel key on the counter, looking at the empty walls. "Are we leaving?"

"Might as well." John sighed, stuffing his journal into his bag. "Nothing left staying here for. There are other jobs out there worth investigating."

"Do you have any in mind?"

"Well this seventeen year old in Utah died from a heart attack. She was athletic, with perfect heath. Same thing happened to two other teens in the same high school."

"What are you thinking then, some pissed off spirit with a hate for healthy teenagers?" Dean questioned with a hint of sarcasm.

"Maybe." John agreed. "If we head out tonight we can make the boarder."

"Sounds good." Dean headed for the back of the room. "I will get my stuff."


	11. Chapter 11

Jessica Moore suppressed a curse as she pulled her cell phone out of her purse and dropped it. She scrambled to her knees as it wrung again, grabbed the cell phone and opened it. "Hello?"

"Hey Jess." Sam greeted from the other end of the phone. "I just called to tell you that my flight came in. I'm going to call a cab and will be home in like… two hours."

"Okay." Jess sat up, flipping her hair out of her face, and smiled. "I will see you then."

"Should I pick up anything on the way home?"

"Nope. Just yourself." They said their goodbyes, and then hung up. Jess smiled. She was happy to hear that Sam was coming home. Last night was torture by herself. She cried herself to sleep, although she wasn't going to tell Sam that. He likely had a bad night too, stuck with his family that he never talked about. Jess wondered how he managed to tell them about her pregnancy, and what they thought about it. More importantly, she wondered why Sam even left at all. It was great that he was making up with his family, but why so suddenly? Sam never even talked about his family, and all of a sudden he just disappears to go to Canada with them. It was weird. But Jess was glad he was coming home. Very glad.

Jess sat down at her laptop and opened it up to her homework. A report on Evidential Psychosis was due in a couple days, and she knew that when Sam came home she wouldn't want to spend any time on it. She wrote for a good hour and then watched TV to pass the time. _Sam, where are you?_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sam cringed as the cab hit a speed bump and something hard in his suitcase beside him jammed him in the ribs. He pushed it to the other end of the seat and folded his arms across his chest to keep it from happening again. He looked up to the cabdriver in front of him. The looked to be in his late forties, with grey hair and a greasy face that looked like it hadn't been washed since it's last sandwich. "So," Sam cleared his throat. "How's the business lately?"

"Meh." The man coughed.

_Okay then. _Sam looked back out the window. _So much for conversation._ He watched the vehicles drive by in the rear view mirror in boredom. He was tall enough to see easily an old red Chevy three cars behind him.

After forty-five minutes of complete silence, Sam took his eyes of the window beside him and looked back to the rear-view mirror. The red Chevy was still behind him. Sam frowned. Why was the truck still there? Traffic was good, and the truck could have taken many different exits. But it was still three cars behind Sam's cab. Straining his eyes, Sam watched the man driving the car. What Sam could make out of his face at that distance was grim, and Sam eventually gave up. He looked around outside the car. Maybe the cabdriver would believe Sam if he said he was being followed. He doubted it. But still… Sam looked to the driver, and looked back to… nothing. The Chevy was gone, just like that. He turned around to look again. The Chevy had disappeared.

Sam's throat went dry. Something supernatural was happening. _But what?_ Sam looked around constantly for the remainder of the drive, but the truck was no where to be found.

When the taxi driver pulled up in front of the apartment building where Sam and Jess lived, Sam stepped out of the car and paid the man quickly. He set his bag down at the front step as he quickly pulled out his keys. The car sped off, and Sam felt for a gun that was hidden safely in the side pocket of his bag. He kept his back to the dark street, although he was acutely aware of every sound behind him. He managed to get the door open, then grabbed his stuff and walked as quickly as he could up the stairs without looking like he was in a hurry. Sam didn't know if he was being followed, or not but it was better to be safe then sorry. Sam climbed three flights of stairs and walked down two hallways. When he got to his apartment door, he opened it quickly and slid inside, tossing his bag on a stool by the door.

"Hey you." Jess ran to the door when she heard Sam come in. Pulling him into a big hug, she gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I missed you."

"Me too." Sam leaned against the door to close it, and slid the bolt with one hand while holding her at arms length. "You look good."

Jess smiled, raising an eyebrow at Sam's motion to lock the door. "Scared are we?"

"It's nothing," Sam picked up his bag and threw it into the bedroom and walked into the bathroom to wash up. "There was just this… truck hovering outside when I was there." He answered loudly threw the door. "It's not a big deal. And in a city like this, we should be locking our doors all the time anyhow."

"I suppose you're right." Jess seemed at bit confused. "So," she walked to the window and pushed the curtain back casually. "What does this truck look like?"

"A red Chevy."

"Sam…"

"Yeah?" Sam walked back into the room after washing his face, wiping it dry with the back of his hand. Jess looked back at him with a worried look on her face. Sam frowned, walking to her at the window. "Jess what's wrong?"

Jess looked back to the window, and Sam pulled back the curtain so he could see. There was nothing there. He looked back to Jess.

"I… I swear it was there." Jess frowned and shook her head as if flustered. "I must just be tired or something." She gave the street below another look before walking to the counter and getting a drink of water.

"No…"Sam said quietly, watching the street. "I don't think so."

"Sorry what?" Jess turned around from the sink.

Sam's phone rang, and he picked up immediately, almost expecting some paranormal truck driver on the other end. "Hello?"

"Sam." Dean said from the other end. "You're not going to like this."

"Dean?" Sam was surprised to hear from his brother already. "What? What's wrong?"

"Dad and I am still a day and a half away. But you need to be careful."

"You're coming to California?" Sam asked in shock. "What's going on?"

"The… The vampires didn't completely disappear Sam. Dad found a lead there. We think they might be following you." Dean sounded worried. "Now I don't know what you are going to tell Jessica, but you might want to do something to keep yourselves safe. We have no clue what they want or when they will strike. But these things aren't exactly pretty to meet."

"I will be ready. Just get here as soon as you can."

"Will do."

Sam tossed the phone onto the couch before taking another quick look to the window. Still nothing. _For now. _ He shut the curtains and hurried to the door and double-checked the locks.

"Who was that?" Jess asked worriedly.

"My brother Dean." Sam struggled to push the TV cabinet in front of the window.

"What are you doing?"

"We have… a bit of a problem." Sam said truthfully, unsure what to tell Jess. He stood back to make sure the cabinet covered the window properly, and turned to look at Jess.

"Does this have to do with that creepy truck?" Jess frowned up at Sam with concern in her eyes.

Sam nodded.

"What's going on then?" Jess followed Sam as he proceeded to put a chair in front of the door under the doorknob. "Who are they?"

"It's not so much as a who… more of a what." Sam avoided Jess's eyes for a second, unsure how he would tell her.

"What?!"

"Look Jess I haven't been completely honest with you…"Sam cleared his throat uncomfortably. " My family and I… We kind of hunt _things_."

"Things?" Jess shook her head. "What are you talking about? What does this have to do with" –

"These things that we hunt," Sam continued. "Most people don't know that they are real. Like the people in the truck. They aren't really people."

Jess looked at him for a minute. "What _are _they then?"

Sam looked at her with as much honesty as he could come up with. "Vampires."

"Oh god." Jess sighed deeply, putting a hand to her forehead.

"Jess?"

"You're drunk." Jess walked back to the kitchen area. "Do you even know what you're talking about?"

"No, Jess." Sam walked around her and held up a hand to stop her. "I'm perfectly fine. I'm not drunk. This is real."

"Then you are hallucinating." Jess bit her lip. "Listen to yourself. Vampires aren't real! They don't exist Sam!"

"Jess," Sam looked into her eyes with sureness. "I can't prove this to you right now, but I need you to trust me okay?"

"Sam… I don't know…"Jess sniffled. "First the nightmares, now this?"

"Jess, I'm not crazy." Sam shook his head. This wasn't working!

"I never said that." Jess shook her head also, wiping away an angry tear. She took a deep breath and let it out. "Just… just go to bed or something Sam. Please." She reached for the phone tentatively. "I'm just going to call someone who can help."

Sam took the phone from her hand and set it back in the receiver. "Jess I'm fine. Just trust me."

Jess looked at the phone for a minute, and then back up at Sam unsurely. "Just… just promise me you wont do anything stupid, okay?"

"Yeah." Sam stepped back as Jess walked to the bedroom door and looked back at him. "I promise."

Jess shut the door behind herself, leaving Sam stuck in the living room with a bunch of moved furniture feeling completely alone.


	12. Chapter 12

**Sam rubbed the sleep from his eyes angrily, staring at the wall opposite him. It was three in the morning, and Sam could still hear Jess's gentle crying in the other room. He had done it this time. She **_**officially**_** thought he was insane.**

**The phone rang again. "What?" He picked it up and answered a little to angrily.**

**"Just checking to make sure you're okay." Dean answered from the other end. "How are things?"**

**"How are things?" Sam repeated back quietly, sad and angry at the same time. "How the hell do you think I'm doing?"**

**"Dude…. What's your problem?"**

**"My problem is that you give horrible advice." Sam mumbled, taking a swig of his soda. He would have had something stronger if Jess hadn't questioned him about it a couple hours earlier.**

**"What are you talking about?" Dean asked. **

**"I'm talking about the fact that you told me these vampires would show up and they didn't. And you know what else… You told me to **_**tell**_** Jess about what we do for a living. I have no freaking idea why I listened to you."**

**"You told her?" Dean questioned. "What did she say?"**

**"My apartment is trashed, I'm sitting on the couch alone and my girlfriend is crying herself to sleep. How do you think it went?!"**

**"That bad…"**

**"Yeah…"Sam took a deep breath so he wouldn't snap again. " She was about to call psychiatric help. And I'm not joking."**

**"Ouch." **

**"So what the hell now Dean?" Sam sighed. "What does dad have to say?"**

**There was a shuffling on the other end of the phone, and then John answered. "Hey Sam, how are you holding down the fort over there?"**

**"What fort?" Sam replied. "There is nothing here. Are you sure they are in Palo Alto?"**

**"As sure as I need to be to get down there." John said. "They might not just bust in the door Sam. You of all people should know that. Just be patient and keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary. What have to done to keep safe?"**

**"The windows and doors are blocked." Sam replied. "And I'm in the living room waiting. For what I have no clue though."**

**"What about Jessica?" John questioned.**

** "She's safe." **

**"Hey Sam, you okay?" John's voice got a little softer. **

**Sam hesitated. He didn't want to say anything Jess could hear over the phone in the other room. And besides, he didn't want to tell it again. "You can ask Dean."**

**"Okay."**

**Sam looked over his shoulder at the window again.**

**"Sam."**

**"Yeah?"**

**"Be careful. Just because things aren't happening now doesn't mean they wont. Your brother and I will be there by noon tomorrow, maybe ten if we speed some more."**

**"Alright. I'll see you later dad."**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Jess pulled her ear away from the door, biting her lip. She had never spied on Sam before. But she was just so worried about him. The things he was saying… like vampires and things like that, it was just unreal. Jess knew that there was obviously no such thing. And Sam, a grown man, would know that too. Jess figured that the whole… breakdown a few hours ago was from some sort of stress. **_**Like the baby, **_**Jess thought to herself,**_** or those nightmares he won't tell me about.**_** Jess sat down on the bed, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. When she had called Sam about the baby, she had figured he would come home and make everything okay like he always did. She never really considered that he would have trouble dealing with it himself.**

**And what was with that phone call just now? Sam had been talking to someone, she had heard him use the names dad and Dean separately. So was he close with his family again now? Were they the ones that put the whole vampire thing in his head? What was going on?**

**Jess stopped as a hissing noise echoed at the window behind her, and her heart stopped as she slowly turned around. There was barely enough air left in her lungs to let out a scream.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sam sat upright when he heard something in the room. He must have fallen asleep. Turning quickly to the kitchen area, the source of the noise, he sighed. It was only Jess. **

**"Sorry," Jess cringed when she saw him, kneeling to pick up a pan from the floor. "I was trying not to wake you up."**

**"That's okay." Sam stifled a yawn, giving her an awkward smile. He looked at the clock on the wall. "It's already seven-thirty. I should get up anyways."**

**"I'm making scrambled eggs," Jess turned to the stove, maybe to turn her back on him. "How would you like yours?"**

**"Plain is fine." Sam stood and leaned on the other side of the countertop uncomfortably. He never thought it would be weird talking to his own girlfriend. But after last night…**

**"Sounds good."**

**"So…"Sam frowned, clearing his throat. " You're not going to say anything about…"**

**"About what?" Jess looked back at him with a weird look.**

**Sam raised his eyebrows in a knowing look. **

**Sighing, Jess set down her spatula. "You mean what happened last night. Well I admit, I wasn't being very supportive."**

**"That's not what I meant Jess. I'm not talking about what **_**you**_** did or didn't do." **_**Although it would have been nice if you would have believed me. **_**"Don't you even have anything to say to me?"**

**"Sam I…"Jess hesitated. " I get it. After everything you've been through these past months with the baby, school, you're family contacting you out of the blue…that was totally understandable. And I don't want you to feel weirded out because I freaked on you."**

**Sam nodded. **_**Wow, that was easy..**_** "Thanks."**

**"So," Jess gave Sam a big smile and sighed with relief. "Now that that's over with, can you fill up the coffee pot for me?"**

**"Sure thing." Sam put the coffee pot under the tap, and as he let it fill up he remembered when he snuck into the water system of his apartment and did the ritual to make it all holy water. That was even better considering the apartment had sprinklers in case of a fire. Just in case, he had figured. One day, he may even get to use that plan in case of a demon. But then again, when would a demon be in his apartment?**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Dean tilted his head to the left slowly, then to the right, still keeping his eyes on the road. It was getting pretty uncomfortable driving by now. He had been switching of with John every couple hours, but that didn't help much and it only wasted their time. Heck, they had been driving almost twelve hours now without stopping for more then five minutes at a time. He looked over to John as he was waking up from a nap. They needed their rest for what might come in Palo Alto.**

**"How's driving Dean?" John yawned, and took a sip of his coffee. **

**"Fine I guess." Dean shrugged. "How far are we now?"**

**John checked his watch. "Um… three hours. Maybe four."**

**"That's just great." Dean sighed sarcastically. "You want to drive next?"  
"Sure."**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**"You almost done with that?" Jess laughed.**

**"Yeah, just give me a minute," Sam shut the facet with one hand, and turned around to give her the coffee pot, but they ran into each other. The coffee pot smashed on the floor, and Jess jumped back and shouted out as the water splashed all over her legs.**

"Sorry Je…"Sam stopped. The water was steaming on Jess. It wasn't even warm yet. And it was holy water.

__**Jess whipped her head back to glare at Sam, her eyes black. "That's okay honey," she said with a mocking malice in her voice. "We can buy another one."**

**Sam reached for the tap with the holy water, but the demon was quicker. She raised her hand, and Sam's entire body smacked against the far wall and stayed there. **

**"Oh Sam," The demon walked slowly towards him, shaking her head and picking up a long piece of glass from the broken coffee pot. "We could have done this the easy way. I even made you breakfast and everything." **

**Sam glared back, fighting it's hold on him and trying to pull away from the wall. **

**"Relax," The demon sat down on the arm of the couch so that she was right in front of him, setting the glass on the table beside her. "We've got three hours to kill."**

**"What… What do you want?"**

**"I just want a little quality time Sammy." The demon mocked. "Isn't this fun?"**

**"It's you isn't it?" Sam asked angrily. "You were at the nest. You left the note."**

**"Well look at that, little Sammy Winchester has brains."**

**"Comes in handy when a demon comes along."**

**The demon laughed, a haunting laugh that could never have belonged to Jess. "Well your mother had brains too. And look how she ended up. I hear it was quite a show."**

**Sam pulled his head away from the wall about two inches before it was pulled back again. "I swear" –**

**"Swear what?" The demon laughed, standing up and lifting her arms in mock surrender. "What are you going to do?" She let her arms fall to her sides. "See, the way I see it, this is just payback."**

**"For what?"**

**"Chasing my nest away."**

**Sam paused, frowning. "What? **_**Your**_** nest?"**

"And then you had to hurry back home to interrupt my handiwork." She picked up a newspaper clipping off the dresser, and held it up long enough for Sam to read the headline. "Doctor Dies. Cause Unknown." She read it out loud to prove her point.

**"You killed a doctor? What does that have to do with us?"**

**"Well this man," she pointed to the picture. "Was Jessica's doctor." **

**"So?"**

**"He did the sonogram. Or should I say **_**I**_** did."**

**"You didn't…"Sam knew what she was going to say, but was almost afraid to hear it."**

**"You wouldn't even believe how delicate a pregnancy is." She continued to talk as she walked over and set the article back on the counter. "I mean, you need to give her just the right drugs at just the right time. It's not the doctor's fault he messed up. And well," she laughed. "The rest is history I guess."**

**"Go to hell."**

**A fist cam across Sam's face so fast he wasn't expecting it. And considering the demon was possessing Jessica, it was a pretty good hit too. "Been there, actually." She picked up Sam's phone from the table beside he couch where he had been sleeping. "You don't mind if I borrow your phone, do you? Good." **

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Dean reached pulled his phone out of his pocket as it rang, giving John a wary look. "Sam?"

**"Hello," A woman's voice answered from the other end, although she sounded somewhat wicked. "Dean, is it?" **

**"Who is this?" Dean saw John look at him with worry.**

**"I have lots of names."**

**"What do you want?"**

**"You know," she ignored the question. "You're brother is a lot taller than I expected him to be."**

**"What have you done with him?" Dean asked angrily. **

**"Nothing," She said nonchalantly, "Yet."**

**"Let me talk to him. Prove that he's there."**

**"Oh you Winchester boys are so stubborn." She sighed. "But fine." There was a shuffling in the background. "Sam," She said to someone else. "Your brother wants to talk to you."**

**"Dean," John asked, "What's she saying?"**

"**Dean, she's a" – Sam's voice cut out in the background.**

**"Sam? Sam!"**

**"Now let's talk business." The woman continued. "You are under no circumstances going to give the phone to your father."**

**Dean looked to John beside him. "Fine."**

**"Now that we have established that, you are going to put your foot to the floor of that car and get here within an hour and a half."**

**"But we're three hours away with speeding." Dean shook his head, even though she couldn't see it. "That's impossible."**

**There was the sound of something thudding hard against the wall in the background, and someone moaning. "I'm going to do that every five minutes until you get here." The woman said simply. "But I guess it's your decision then, isn't it." She hung up the phone, and Dean looked to his father and put the petal to the medal.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Sam pulled himself onto his hands and knees from where he hit the ground. "So," he took a deep breath. She really wasn't going to do this every five minutes, was she? "It's a trap. You want us all together."**

**"Don't get a big head." She laughed while looking down at him with contempt. "This has nothing to do with you or your brother. Now get up."**


	14. Chapter 14

**An hour later, the demon checked Jess's watch. "Your brother **_**should**_** be here soon," she shrugged nonchalantly, looking over to Sam where he was still on the wall. "But I'm in no hurry."**

_**Of course not.**_** Sam would have said it out loud, but his lungs hurt and he was dreading the next hit against the wall he would get. The demon must have sensed he was loosing his strength because she didn't do anything for almost fifteen minutes, which Sam was grateful for even though he didn't know why.**

**"You're quiet." She said after a while, and Sam raised his head to look at her. **

**He huffed. "I wonder why."**

"**Come now," she fiddled with the piece of glass in her hands. "We haven't even started having fun yet."**

"**Well what are you waiting for then?" Sam replied dryly. "I'm not going anywhere."**

**The demon picked up Sam's cell phone, pushed a few buttons and turned back to Sam. "Oh, I know." She pushed the glass against his chest till it broke the skin and dragged it a few inches, ignoring Sam's struggling. Then she held the blade up so a little bit of blood ran down the blade, held up the phone and took a picture.**

"**What," Sam breathed. "Are you doing?"**

"**Sending this to your brother." She smiled, and pressed a couple more buttons on his phone before throwing it on the couch. **

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Dean's phone rang again, and he answered hurriedly. "Look I'm coming," he said before the woman could say anything. "We just need a little more time."  
"Time?" The woman hissed. "I gave you ninety minutes. That should be a load of time."**

**"We are still an hour away, and we can't go any faster."**

**"Well," She sneered, "We are having fun without you. I sent you a picture by the way." **

**"Just don't hurt him."**

**She hung up.**

**"Dad," Dean handed the phone to John. "She sent us a picture. Check the messages."**

**John checked the message box, and frowned deeply as he read a message. **

**"What?" Dean looked briefly at his father as he turned a corner. "What is it?"**

**John swore under his breath.**

**"Dad! What did she send us?"**

**John held up the phone, and Dean slowed down a little to get a better look. It was a bloody piece of something that looked like glass. And the message under it said, "Don't be late. We haven't even started."**

_**Sam.**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

**"You going to kill us?" **

**The demon turned around, almost surprised by the question. "Excuse me?"**

**"Are you going to kill us?"**

**The demon sneered. "You know better than to ask that."**

**"My dad isn't going to let you. He's the best and you know it. There are three of us, and one of you."**

**"Your father is going to barge in here expecting a nest of vampires," the demon laughed. "And he's too worried about **_**you**_** to think straight about killing **_**me**_**. Not that he could."**

**"You don't have to worry about me?," Sam sighed sarcastically. "And why is that?"**

**The demon moved her hand, and Sam smacked hard against the other wall, falling to the ground. "That's why."**

**Sam rolled slowly onto his back, gasping for air. She had finally broken one of his ribs. He closed his eyes for a minute, gathering the strength he still had. **_**Well here goes nothing.**_** The first few words of the demon exorcism came to his mouth, and he managed to stumble through a few sentences before he was hit in the face again. Hard. **

**"Don't make me break your girlfriend's knuckles boy," the demon hissed in Sam's ear before standing back up. "Because hitting you that hard might hurt you a bit."**

**Sam rolled his tongue around in his mouth a bit, tasting blood. Then he continued with the exorcism so quickly he could hardly understand himself. **

**This time a foot hit him in the head so hard his vision blurred for a moment. He moaned, trying to regain a sense of what was happening around him, and he felt the demon pull him upright by the shirt so he was sitting up. And hit him again. The ground moved underneath him as the demon pulled him upright with the same force that hit him against the wall. He muttered the last two words of the exorcism, and he hit the wall at the same time that black smoke fumed on the ceiling. Everything went dark.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Thud.**_

**Jess pulled herself off the floor numbly, and sat up. What happened? She looked down to her hands and saw blood. Her entire body hurt. **

_**Thud.**_

**What was that? Jess looked around, and noticed a bloody piece of glass on the table. Her heart nearly stopped as she looked over the couch, to see Sam lying unconscious on the floor.**

**"Oh my god!" Jess fell to her knees. There was blood on Sam's face and chest. She pulled back the material a little to see a long cut. Was that from the glass? Who did this?**

_**Thud.**_

__**Jess turned to the noise, now terrified. That must be them, the people who did this. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and then grabbed the glass.**

_**Bang! **_**Jess heard the door get busted down, and she turned around in alarm.**

__**"Sam!" A man's voice called.**

**She sobbed, moving in front of Sam's body.**

**Two men came around the corner with guns and large knives, and Jess held up the glass. "Leave us alone!"**

**The older man gestured to the younger, and he looked in the bedroom and bathroom. "Where are they?" He asked, worried. **

**"Take anything." she tried not to cry, but it was hard. "Just leave us alone."**

**"We aren't here to hurt you." He assured, pointing the gun at the floor. "Where's Sam?"**

**"Just go away!" She shook her head. "Stop hurting him!"**

**The man frowned, taking a step closer. "We are here to help," he said calmly. "I'm Sam's father John. That's his brother Dean."**

**"And why should I believe you?"**

**"His birthday is May 2, 1983. He was born in Lawrence, Kansas, but we moved after his mother died in a car accident. He hadn't talked to me in almost two years until a couple days ago. Now if I wasn't his father, would I know that?"**

**Jess hesitated, looking up at the man. "No."**

**John walked forwards, his brow meeting when he saw Sam's condition and swore under his breath. "Dean?" He knelt down by Sam, feeling for a pulse. "Dean I need some help."**

**The younger man hurried into the room, looked briefly at Jess and then looked in amazement when he saw Sam.**

**"What happened to him?" Jess asked as clearly as she could.**

**The young man turned around all of a sudden, his gun pointed at Jess. "You."**

**"What?" Jess backed up, scared. "What are you talking about?"**

**"That voice," Dean continued. "It's you."**

**"I don't know what you're talking about!"**

**"No, Dean," John lifted his hand to show a powder on the ground. "Sulphur. A demon's been here." He pulled a flask from his jacket and threw a few drops of water on Jess. **

**"What are you doing?"**

**"Dean, she was possessed." John put the flask back in his jacket.**

**"Was?" **

**"It must have left her."**

**"Well…"Dean shook his head, looking to his brother. "Then why is Sam unconscious?"**

**"I don't know, but we got to get him to the hospital," John took Sam under the arms, and Dean grabbed his feet. They carried him down the stairs, and out into the parking lot, Jess following behind carefully. **

**"You mind getting the door?" Dean asked, scaring her. "Sorry."**

**"Yeah… sure." She pulled it open, and John got Sam in the backseat as Dean got in the drivers seat. "I'm going to need you to sit back there with him." John ordered as he got into the passengers side. "Keep his head from moving around if you can."**

**Jess didn't say anything, but just got in the car. She held Sam's head in her lap, and couldn't help letting out another sob at the sight of him. **

**They took off.**


	15. Chapter 15

**John looked back to Jess after a few minutes of silent driving. "How is he?"**

**"I don't know." Jess shook her head, pushing Sam's bangs out of his eyes. "I don't remember anything… He could have been unconscious for who-knows-how long."**

**"How do you feel?"**

**"Tired," she admitted. "So you… you said I was possessed?"**

**"Yeah." John answered, sighing.**

**"By a demon?"**

**John nodded.**

**She looked down at her boyfriend. "So that means that Sam wasn't crazy. All that stuff he was talking about…"  
"It's real." John finished her sentence for her. "I know he didn't want you to find out this way."**

**Jess didn't' say anything. And John, maybe expecting this behavior of her, just looked back to Sam's face. "Where is the blood coming from?" he asked.**

**"Umm…"Jess shrugged her shoulders. " He looked like he got hit a lot. I think it's a lot of things."**

**John turned back to Dean, nodded his head, and the car sped up.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Dean shuffled uncomfortably in his chair, looking down at Sam in his hospital bed. Jess sat on the other side of him, looking just as bad.**

**"So," Dean spoke up partly so he wouldn't have to hear his father talking to the doctor outside the door. "I'm sorry I scared you. I just thought you were…"**

**"Yeah. It's okay." Jess paused, looking down at Sam. "So you mentioned my voice. How did you recognize it?"**

**"Well you – I mean the demon – called us… We were a few hours away, and it made some threats and stuff."**

**"Why?"**

**Dean sighed deeply, hesitating. "How much did Sam tell you, about us?"**

**"He said that you guys hunt things, whatever that means."**

**"Well…"Dean leaned forward awkwardly, "We do. There are things out there, like demons, which hurt people. They are things that most people don't know exist. And we kill them."**

**"Oh." Jess frowned. "So I had a demon inside me?"**

**"Yeah," Dean nodded. "Meaning that you were possessed."**

**"So I…" Jess bit her lip, still looking at Sam. "I did this?"**

**Dean gave her a look of pity. "No. You didn't. A demon has full control of the body they are possessing. You couldn't have done anything to stop even if you had been awake." He shifted in his chair. "I mean… you are lucky even to be alive right now. Demons are... well they don't really care about their hosts. They can possess a person in any condition they want and leave them in any condition they want."**

**"So…how did you guys get into hunting?" Jess asked innocently, and saw Dean's face grow cold. At first, she thought he wasn't going to say anything. He seemed to be thinking it over.**

**"Our… Our mom didn't die in a car accident Jess." He sighed again, and looked up to meet her eyes. "I was three," he continued. "It was Sam's six month anniversary. Mom tucked us into bed, and then dad fell asleep on the couch…"**

**Jess listened with silent interest, wondering what facts he was neglecting to tell her.**

**"According to dad's story," Dean looked to the door, and back to Jess. "Mom was screaming. The sound came from Sam's nursery." He frowned. "The sound woke me up… But anyways, Dad ran in there, and mom was…. Was on the ceiling."**

**"What?" Jess spoke up for the first time, amazed. "How?"**

**"We still don't know." Dean sighed. "Whatever put her there had disappeared by the time dad found her. But then she stared on fire. The whole house started burning right away. Dad grabbed Sam, and told me to get him out of the house. I ran outside, and I could see the flames shooting out the windows. Dad went in there to try and get mom, but it was too late. The firemen put the cause of death as an electrical shortage. Dad, he got us out of Lawrence within a month, and started getting these books, making new friends… He became a hunter. And that's all we knew growing up. So when Sam wanted to go to college, he wanted to live a normal life. And dad didn't understand why he didn't want to hunt." He huffed. "They fight a lot. But I know neither of them wanted it to go that far."**

**John opened the door, sighed and closed it behind him again. **

**"Dad, what's he saying about Sam?" Dean looked up, eager for good news.**

**"There is no internal bleeding that they can tell, although he has two broken ribs." He sat down beside Dean. "He might have mild cerebral contusions, but they can't tell until he wakes up."**

**"Anything permanent?" Jess piped up, nervous.**

**"They don't think so. He said it was very likely there would be a full recovery. No brain damage or anything like that."**

**Jess sighed deeply, relieved. "Thank God," she breathed.**

**Dean nodded. "What did you tell the doctor?"**

**"Someone broke into the apartment." John said. "A robbery gone bad. And that explains how we found him."**

**"Good enough."**

**"How are you feeling?" John looked over to Jess.**

**"I don't know." Jess shrugged her shoulders. "This all happened so fast. I didn't think this week could get any worse, but I guess I was wrong."**

**Dean nodded. "Sam told us about the baby."**

**"We weren't in hurry or anything," Jess admitted. "But we were pretty exited. It's big." She paused. "But now at least we can worry about school and getting our lives more settled before anything like that happens."**

**"Good idea."**

**"You know…" Jess let out a small chuckle. "I never thought I would be meeting Sam's family for the first time in a hospital."**

**Dean smiled, shrugging a little. "Well our family is weird like that."**

**"Very."**


	16. Chapter 16

**Dean sat up slowly, yawning. **_**I must have fallen asleep.**_** He moved uncomfortably in his chair, and looked over to the machine keeping Sam's heart rate. From what Dean could tell, it looked normal. At least it kept going **_**bleep bleep**_**, so that's was good, right? **_**Dang those machines are annoying…**_

__**Looking up, Dean saw that John and Jessica had left, probably to get some coffee or something.**

**"Good afternoon." One of the nurses came in and looked at the bleeper machine, writing some stuff onto a clipboard. "How are you feeling?"**

**"Tired," Dean yawned. "How about my brother?"**

**"Well he's doing just fine." The nurse gave him a plastic smile. "I think he should be awake any time soon, but it will take a while for him to wake up completely, so he might not make a lot of sense if he tries to talk to you."**

**Dean laughed. "Thanks for the warning." **

**"But he shouldn't go back to sleep," the nurse continued. "We need to do some tests."**

**The nurse left, her clipboard under her arm, and Dean slouched back in his seat. **

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**John took a large sip of his coffee, trying to ignore the smell of disinfectant and disease that hospitals were so well known for. He was glad Jessica didn't get hurt too. Sam would have been heartbroken. But now he was just broken in general. **

**Nothing made sense… Why would the demon do so much to tempt them here, and just leave? And why was there a demon in the first place? This started out as a search for a vampire nest. Where they dealing with two separate things, or one big problem? How could they possibly be connected? Did this have anything to do with Sam's nightmares?**

**Looking at the far wall, John frowned. Sam had better be alright. He would never forgive himself if he didn't. **_**I let him go **_**again**_**, and look what happens! **_**It was just him and the boys. He couldn't bear to loose his son after all that happened. He might just go mad. And after finding out the truth about Sam… **_**You might have to kill him. You know that John.**_** John shook his head. **_**No, we can save him.**_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_**Damnit Dean, why couldn't you have driven faster?**_** Dean looked away from his unconscious brother. **_**She said not to talk to dad. This was **_**your**_** mess-up. You are supposed to take care of him.**_

**Sam made a noise and moved his fingers a little. **

**Dean sighed with relief. "Sammy…" He said calmly, waiting for Sam to open his eyes. "Sam, you with me?" **

**Sam didn't do anything, just twitched his hand again. **

**"Common man, I hate hospitals." Dean shook Sam's arm gently, and Sam pulled his arm away so fast Dean was surprised he didn't rip out the I.V. in his arm.**_** Bleep, bleep, bleep.**_** The heart-machine sped up for a few seconds, and Dean raised his eyebrows. **_**Holy crap.**_** It seemed like Sam still thought he was in the apartment with the demon. **

**Sam moaned something that sounded like "No." and tried to roll over on his side, but stopped and just laid there, blinking his eyes a few times.**

**"That might not work until you're ribs heal," Dean said, hoping Sam would recognize his voice. **

**Sam tilted his head to look at his visitor. "Dean?"**

**"In the flesh." Dean smiled. "How do you feel?"**

**Sam paused to breathe, probably just discovering that broken ribs made it hard to talk. "Where are we?"**

**"The morgue," Dean sighed sarcastically. "But seriously dude, we're in a hospital."**

**"Oh." Sam blinked a few more times, looking around. "Where's dad? She get him?"**

**Dean frowned. "What?" **_**Wow that nurse wasn't lying about making no sense.**_

**"It said it would break her knuckles…" Sam closed his eyes again.**

**"Who's knuckles?" Dean didn't have a clue what Sam was talking about, but he knew that if he got Sam talking he would wake up faster.**

**"Jess's…"**

**"Why?"**

**Sam looked down at his I.V., but seemed to be thinking. "Cause I kept trying to exorcize it. It was going to break her knuckles on my face."**

**Dean shook his head, sighing. **_**Looks like Sam put up quite a fight. **_**"Well it's gone now."**

**"How's Jess?" Sam wasn't blinking nearly as much, and he seemed to be finally waking up. **

**"She's fine Sam," Dean assured his brother, nodding. "No broken knuckles or anything."**

**"And dad?"**

**"He's in the cafeteria." Dean stood up. "I'll go tell him you're awake."**

**Sam nodded, and Dean left to go find John.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**"Dad?" Dean found John at a table in the corner with a large coffee and a newspaper. "Sam's up."**

**John was up almost instantly. "How is he?"**

**"Talking like a drunk," Dean huffed. "But the nurse said that's normal."**

**John smiled a little, nodding. **

**"Where's Jessica?"**

**"She went back to the apartment. I told her to get some sleep. I gave her Sam's cell phone in case anything came up."**

**"Good idea." Dean agreed. "I'll leave a message telling her to come in a bit." He pulled out his phone, sent a quick text, and he and John went into Sam's hospital room.**

**"Hey dad." Sam greeted quietly when John came in.**

**"Hey." John sat down in Jess's chair, and Dean on the other side. "How do you feel?"  
"Like I got thrown at the wall," Sam gave him a sarcastic smile. "You look really tired."**

**"Look who's talking." Dean laughed, glad Sam was back to being himself. "You're girlfriend must have a pretty good right hook."**

**Sam nodded. "Yeah super-strength will do that I guess."**

**"So," John looked at Sam seriously. "What happened this morning? I thought we were dealing with vampires."**

**"So did I." Sam agreed. "The whole demon thing was a bit of a shock to me."**

**"What happened?"**

**"Well I don't think I was supposed to know she was possessed." Sam started. "Until she got holy water splashed on her."  
Dean raised an eyebrow. "And **_**why**_** was there holy water splashed on her?"**

**"The whole apartment building water lines are holy water." Sam shrugged. "I did that a year ago."**

**John nodded to himself. **_**Good thinking Sam.**_

**"We were making coffee, and she just went demon all of a sudden. I was too stunned to do anything for a second, and by then I was already on the wall."**

**"Then she called me?" Dean piped up.**

**"Yeah, basically. She was pretty quick on the draw," Sam agreed.**

**"So what did she want?" Dean took a big gulp of his drink. "I mean… What did she want with us?"**

** "Whatever she wanted, it had something to do with the vampire nest we chased away. She called it 'her' nest. I never thought that was possible, but they must have some sort of alliance."**

**Dean nodded pensively. "Either that, or she's controlling it. Or working for someone who is."**

**John sighed. "I never should have dragged you boys up there."**

**"Dad," Dean agued. "We hunt as a family, the way **_**you**_** taught us. Whatever this is, we can take it on together."**

**"Your brother almost died for this, and the demon was probably" –**

**"Dad, broken bones heal," Sam interrupted. "And we have just as much reason to hunt as you."**

**"And what about Jessica? This is dangerous and you know it."**

**Sam nodded. "Exactly. The demon found her even **_**after**_** I left the job and stopping **_**now**_** wont do anything. Whatever it wants with this family, its not afraid to take anyone down in the crossfire, and we have to stop it."**

**Dean nodded. "I **_**am**_** surprised at how good of condition Jessica is in though. I mean, it was almost afraid to hurt her or something."**

**"No…" Sam shook his head. "It's just that it already made its point."**

**"Yeah…" Dean agreed, casualy gesturing to Sam's injuries.**

**"That's not what I meant Dean." Sam seemed to be thinking about something. Maybe he just remembered something the demon said?**

**"Then what?" John frowned.**

**Sam pointed to the newspaper on the table just out of his reach, and Dean grabbed it. "First page, last half."**

**"Doctor dies. Cause unknown," Dean read the heading, and looked over the paper at Sam suspiciously. "So?"**

**"That was Jessica's doctor. And he was **_**possessed**_** when he did the sonogram."**

**John and Dean read a few lines of the paper, frowning.**

**"So you think it…" Dean looked up.**

**"Yeah." Sam sighed. "It admitted it. Said something about some pills…"**

**"Sam," John shook his head. "I'm sorry…"**

**Sam nodded, scowling. "Just another reason to find the bitch if it isn't in hell already."**

**Dean was stricken with the coldness of the words, although to John it seemed almost expected, normal. What lengths did a family go to protect their own? Dean suddenly realized for the first time that his brother and father were more alike than he had thought.**


	17. Chapter 17

**"Try and take a deep breath." The doctor placed a stethoscope on Sam's chest, away from the broken ribs. "And again." He set the stethoscope on the table, and wrote something in his clipboard, nodding. "Okay Sam, I think we are done for now. You are doing fairly nicely so far. Any questions?"**

**Sam shook his head, giving the doctor a smile of thanks. "When can I leave?" **

**The doctor let out a chuckle. "One thing at a time young man. We want to make sure you don't hurt yourself. Don't be in a big hurry." He smiled, and walked out the door, shutting it firmly behind him, and Sam slid slowly back into the hospital bed. **

_**We want to make sure you don't hurt yourself?! What does he think I am, twelve?**_

**Sam slid into an uneasy sleep, where he was plagued with none other than dreams of Jessica burning on the ceiling. It was going to be a long week.**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**"I think he's avoiding me," Jess sighed, plopping down beside Dean on the couch and setting a box beside her. "I just got back from the hospital. They wanted me to pick up his things."**

"**How is he?"**

"**I wish I knew. He's asleep again. If I didn't know better I would say he's afraid of me or something."**

**Dean shook his head, making room for Jess on the couch. After all, he wasn't about to get all snugly with Sam's girlfriend. "No, I seriously doubt that." Dean disagreed. "You are probably just going there at the wrong time or something."**

**Jess huffed. "Bull." **

**"Fine then," Dean said, giving in. "You want to know the truth? Sam **_**was**_** thinking of telling you about all this hunting stuff. I bet you that right now he is sitting in that bed like a stiff trying to think of some way to tell you what really happened. He wont know how much you remembered, or if you will even believe him. You're going to have to tell him you know the truth, because if not he will probably drive himself crazy wondering what to do."**

**Jess sighed. "A couple of days ago I never would have believed any of this. It still freaks me out." She shook her head, looking to Dean. "Doesn't it freak you out?"**

**"Not really. This is all we've ever known."**

**Jess shrugged, nodding. "Its your job."**

**"Its our life."**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Sam scribbled a signature on his statement to the police, describing two robbers who attacked him, and left it at the hospital desk in a sealed envelope. Of course, he had to go with the story his dad made up. He took a few weary steps to the main doors, and waited on the bench outside until his cab came. On purpose, Sam hadn't told anyone he was coming home. He wasn't even supposed to have left yet. Three more days, the doctor had said, just to be safe. The doctor didn't even know he had checked out. Because of all this secrecy, there was nothing but Sam's thoughts to keep him company when he got back to the apartment. Jess wasn't home.**

**Sitting down on the bed, Sam stifled a yawn. It was three in the afternoon, and he was already tired, which was expected. He knew he wasn't ready to leave the hospital yet, but he couldn't stand it. Sam hated hospitals. He was better off at home. And he couldn't make sure Jess was safe in a hospital. He needed to look out for her. **

**After setting the painkillers from the doctor on the bedside table, his eyes paused on the open newspaper. Just the sight of it made him sick to his stomach. He didn't even need to read the headline on the cover to remember the demons words, what it did to Jessica. To him. Picking the newspaper up, he read the article start to finish twice, then slowly ripped it in half. It wasn't as satisfying as he had hoped.**

**All of a sudden, Sam's head started throbbing. Something flickered in his vision, and his eyes cemented shut, the pieces of newspaper falling from his hands.**

_**The car was driving way to fast to be legal. A girl inside was driving with one hand on the wheel, and the other on her phone. "I said leave me alone Kris!" Susan looked outside her open window at the night sky, alone on the highway. "I don't care! Sorry doesn't cut it! You don't even know"- **_

_**The girl screamed when she saw the truck. She slammed on the brakes and swerved, hitting the ditch, and didn't even have time to react before it rolled, crushing her inside.**_

__**Eyes shooting open, Sam struggled to catch his breath. Was that a migraine? Did he just pass out and have a nightmare? Sam tried to pull himself off the floor, but his ribs hurt too much. **_**What is happening to me?**_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**"Hey Dean?" John greeted when his son picked up the phone. "Jessica and I are at the hospital. Did you pick up Sam?"**

**"Um… no. He's not there?"**

**"If he was, would I have called you?"**

**"Good point," Dean smirked. "I guess he checked himself out. He is an adult after all."**

**"I know," John sighed. "Its just that he still had another three days. And that was after he spend a half hour convincing the doctor that that was all he needed."**

**"Well maybe Sam hates hospitals as much as we do," Dean offered half-heartedly. "I'm sure he's fine."**

**"I'm dropping Jessica of at the apartment. If you talk to Sam, just tell him to give us a head's up next time. Alright?"**

**"Sounds good," Dean agreed. "I guess I will see you later."**

**"Bye."**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Leaning backwards against the kitchen counter, Sam counted out the number of painkillers he was supposed to take, and set the bottle beside the glass of water. He took them all at once, letting the cold water running down his throat bring him back to reality. Numbly, he plunked down in front of TV, and turned on the news.**

**"…. And according to police, the driver of the truck was unharmed, although the teenage driver of the car was killed in the accident…"**

**Sam's attention was caught by the newscast, and he moved closer to the TV, now alert.**

**"… Her boyfriend and another close friend, whose names have been upheld, last saw Susan Gregory. They said she left hurriedly from her friend's home by car, and she had been on the phone with her boyfriend when the crash occurred…"**

**Heart beating in his chest so rapidly it hurt, Sam tried to swallow but his throat felt too dry. He couldn't even tell what the newswoman was saying anymore, too in shock. It had happened, his dream. It had happened exactly like he had seen it. The girl in her car, talking to her boyfriend when the truck swerved and she rolled. Sam had seen that, **_**before**_** it had happened. It was like… like a vision or something.**

_**No… It was a coincidence. That's all. It was **_**just**_** a dream.**_

__**Sam shook his head in thought. He had been having tons of dreams lately, and none of them ever came true. Like the one about Jess…. Sam's heart stopped. What if more of these dreams came true? What if all the bad things that he had dreamed lately were really going to happen? Like the dream of Jess on the ceiling… could that really happen? And if so… how could he stop it?**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**John's phone rang, and he answered with a smirk. Sam. It was about time he admitted to leaving. With a signal to Jess to wait a minute before leaving the hotel room where Dean and him were staying, he cleared his throat. "You had me worried there Sam. Leaving early… I don't know, where you just that homesick?"**

**Sam laughed at the joke, although he sounded really worried. "Hey dad… Are you alone?" He asked nervously.**

**John frowned. What kind of question was that? "Should I be? " No answer. "You okay Sam?"**

**Dean and Jess looked over anxiously at the question, and John ignored their staring.**

**"Yeah I just…" he hesitated. " I need to talk to you. Are you alone?"**

**John knew when his children were upset, even when they tried to hide it. He put his hand over the phone for a minute. "I'll be a few minutes," He mouthed to Dean and Jess, and left without another word, headed down the stairs and outside into the parking lot below. "What do you want to talk about?"**

**Sam sighed on the other end. "Before mom…"He seemed to be weighing his words carefully. " Before mom died… Did you ever… get any warnings? Like suspicions or something? I mean… "He sighed, as if the words had abandoned him.**

**Frowning, John wondered why Sam was asking weird questions about Marry all of a sudden. What was bothering him? "No Sam. Nothing. It just happened."**

**"Oh…"**

**"Why do you ask?"**

**"I was just wondering."**

**John knew that Sam didn't just "wonder." He thought everything through. Random questions definitely weren't his nature. "**_**Why**_** are you wondering Sam?"**

**"I…"Sam hesitated. " I have to go…"**

**"Don't you dare hang up on me Samuel Winchester!" John argued from the other end. "You called me for a reason. I walked all the way down to the parking lot to talk to you, so start talking."**

**"I'm sorry."**

**That scared John the most about this conversation. Since when did Sam apologize when John was arguing with him? He had too much pride for that. It was a weakness they both shared. It wasn't like Sam to back down from a fight when it came to John. And also, it was weird that Same even called him in the first place. Dean was usually his first contact. "Sam… What's wrong? Is this really about Marry or about something else?"**

"**Maybe both."**

"**Well what is the other thing then?"**

"**I've just been really… worried. About Jessica. I don't know… it's just…"**

**Now John got it. It all made sense. Sam called him because they both shared one connection. The women they loved, or had loved, in John's case. "Sam… Your mother's death wouldn't have happened if I had known the truth about what was out there. But you're prepared. You've trained your whole life to get rid of these things." No answer from Sam. "I understand why you would be worried, but you can't let it ruin your life." John couldn't believe how hypocritical he sounded. That was exactly what he had done, and was still doing. John was still out for revenge on the thing that killed Mary. How could he tell Sam not to be worried about Jessica? **

**Still no answer from Sam.**

"**What brought this on all of a sudden? Was it the whole thing with the demon?"**

**John could almost sense his son shrugging on the other end of the phone. "I guess. Not really."**

"**Well then what then?"**

"**I've been having… these dreams lately."**

"**The same dreams I was asking you about before?" John frowned. This didn't sound good.**

"**Yeah…"**

"**You mentioned that Jessica was involved in all of this?"**

"**Yeah." Sam's voice was quiet. John wondered why Sam wanted to have this conversation over the phone. Was he too freaked to do it in person?**

"**What kind of dreams?" John was trying to ease Sam into telling him the truth, which he seemed to be avoiding.**

**"Bad ones."**

**"What happened?" **

**John could just picture Sam running a hand through his hair and frowning at the floor, just trying to think of the right words. **

**"Sam?"  
"I know we haven't been as close as we should have been over the past two years, but I know " –**

**John shook his head, although Sam couldn't see it. "None of that matters. Just tell me what's going on. I can't help unless you tell me."**

**"I think," Sam choked out after a long pause. "I think something's wrong with me."**


	18. Chapter 18

"What do you mean?" John felt cold. It was happening already. John new it would happen eventually, but still… did it has to happen now? He just got his son back, and now he was going to lose him? _No, you wont. We can save him._

"…I've been having these dreams."

"You said that," John tried to keep his voice calm. "But of what?"

"Jess." Sam's voice was quiet. "On the ceiling. Just like mom. I would just open my eyes, and all of a sudden she was there. And she would start on fire before I could do anything, then I would wake up or it would start all over again."

John sighed, frowning. "Sam… It's normal for you to be worried about Jess. You care about her, and I get it. What happened to your mother was horrible. But for it to happen twice would be…" He tried a new route. "We are going to kill that son of a bitch who did that to her. I promised you boys that when you were little, and I promise it now."

"But we don't even know what it is," Sam argued, admitting his thoughts. "Or what it wants. How do we know it was a fluke? It could have been after something."

"Like what?"

Sam didn't even have to say the next line. It was as if it floated in the air between them. "Like me."

"Stop it Sam," John couldn't believe his ears. Did his son really believe this? "There's nothing wrong with you, and it wasn't your fault. Okay? If anything it's mine for not getting to her in time."

"You couldn't have done anything dad."

"That's right. So how could a six-month-old baby be responsible either? It was the fault of the thing that killed her, and _only_ it's fault. Why would you even think a thing like that?"

"Put the clues together dad, she was right over top of my crib! How come I survived?"

"I don't know Sam," John never imagined having this conversation with Sam. _At least not yet._ He sighed, as a new thought came to his mind. "How long have you been keeping this all in? Have you talked to anyone about this?"

"Maybe… two months or so. And no, no one knows."

"Why didn't you tell anyone before now?"

Sam huffed. "I guess I thought it was just part of the job or something. Being a hunter isn't exactly tea and cupcakes."

"Well than why are you telling me about all this now?"

Sighing again, Sam hesitated. "Have you seen the news?"

"Not today, no. Why?"

"There was this teenage girl who got in a car accident. She died on the spot."

John paused, confused. "That's horrible Sam, but I don't understand what that has to do with" –

"I dreamt it dad," Sam interrupted. "Exactly as it happened, hours _before_ it happened. And I saw the girl's picture on the news. It was the same one. The car accident happened just like I dreamt it would. It's like I knew it would happen. And I'm still dreaming about Jess dying the same way mom did. I mean, it has to mean something, right? There has to be some connection." –

"Whoa, calm down." It was John's turn to interrupt. "Give me a minute to process this. Are you sure that this dream thing was the real thing?"  
" Dad…"Sam said slowly. "I'm sure. I saw the car crash, then saw the wreckage on the news. They were identical."

John shook his head, almost refusing to believe it. _It wasn't supposed to happen this soon. I'm not ready yet. We need more time._ "Something must have caused it. You just got the crap kicked out of you by a demon. Near-death experiences with the supernatural can give people temporary abilities."

That seemed to convince Sam. Temporarily at least. "Really?"

"Yeah. Of course," John lied. "Just… Watch out for Jess though. I mean, your dream might not happen, but after what happened with the demon she could use someone to keep an eye out for her. And you know Dean and I are here with you all the way."

"I know." Sam seemed a little relieved, but not completely. John knew, even without hearing it in Sam's voice that everything in the past couple months had drained him. This was just the breaking point. "Thanks for helping."

"Speaking of which," John remembered why he was worried before the phone call. "Why are you out of the hospital? You barely made it out of there alive Sam. I don't understand. I can't believe they even let you go."

"I'm fine dad." Sam sighed.

"No you're not, Sam." John hated bugging Sam about this now, but it was important. "I was the one who had to pull Jessica off your unconscious body. I don't want to see you get hurt any worse."

"I'll get plenty of bed rest and everything. I just hate hospitals. And I'm sick of getting looks of pity from people who don't even know me."

John nodded. "Well just promise me you will take it easy for the next couple of weeks."

"Okay."

"And Sam…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you."

Sam hesitated. "For what?"

"You held your own out there. Whatever the demon wanted, you didn't tell her anything and you even tried to exorcise it." John cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. He never was one for the lovey-dovey moments. "I just wanted you to know that."

"Thanks dad. That means a lot."

"Jessica is upstairs watching TV with Dean. Can I bring her back now, or do you need some more time?"

"You can drop her off, if you wouldn't mind. I think we need to talk."

"Well then you might want to know," John added. "That she knows. It was pretty hard to hide the truth from her. She knows about everything."

"Good," Sam seemed relieved. "That helps."

John laughed a little, and smiled. "It's going to be okay Sam. You know that right?"  
" Yeah…"Sam sighed again. "I know."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jessica felt the stiff material of Sam's jacket in her fingers. She missed him so much…

Dean had left to get them some food. Jess was grateful of how nice and comforting Dean and John were being. They were good people.

Something fell out of Sam's pocket, and Jess reached down to pick it up off the floor. It was a little bag. Inside, was a little baby-sized t-shirt that said "I Heart Canada." Jess smiled, and wished more than ever before that they hadn't lost the baby. Sam would have made such a good father.

Jess's foot bumped something on the floor, and she kneeled down to pick it up. Maybe the bag held more treasures. Her hand hesitated above the little velvet box. It was the kind of box used to hold jewelry. Letting her curiosity get the best of her, Jess opened the lid, and her heart nearly stopped. It was an engagement ring; there was no doubt about that. Sam was going to purpose.

Jess bit her lip, and a tear drifted down her cheek. Sam brought an engagement ring home, the night Jess was possessed and attacked him. It wasn't fair. Why couldn't circumstances have been nicer for Sam? For them? She just wanted Sam to be okay.

John came in the room, and halted. He must have noticed her crying. For a moment, he hesitated between the counter and the couch, unsure if he should comfort her or walk away. But he saw the ring in Jess's right hand, and the shirt in her left, and a look of understanding washed over his face. He seemed surprised. Maybe John didn't know Sam was going to purpose.

"Sam's home," John offered, pretending he didn't notice her crying, which was comforting. "You want me to drop you off?"

Jess nodded, standing up. She didn't bother looking for her own jacket, but just pulled Sam's over her shoulders and stuffed the ring and little t-shirt in her pocket. She followed John out the door and they left right away.


	19. Chapter 19

Sam watched John's truck pull out of his parking spot in front of Sam's apartment building through the window above. Jess gave a wave to the truck as it drove away, then turned around and sighed deeply. Sam smiled. She looked really good. No cuts, bruises or broken knuckles. At least the demon had shown that much mercy. Sam didn't know what he would have done if Jess had gotten hurt. He strained to get one last look at her before she entered the apartment building. To see him. Sam sighed.

The sound of a key in the lock alerted Sam a few minutes later, and the door swung open and closed slowly. Sam, still by the window for some reason, didn't turn around. And Jess didn't move either. Both of them were waiting for the other to move first. Maybe neither of them knew what to say, because Sam sure didn't. He turned around slowly, meeting Jess's eyes, and noticed a few details for the first time. Firstly, and worst of all, she had been crying. Secondly, she was wearing his jacket. But that didn't really matter. She could have it for all he cared.

"I…"Jess's voice was soft. Sam wanted to hug her, but he didn't. He hoped that things weren't different between them now that she knew. Jess cleared her throat. "John and Dean, they told me…"

"About the demon?" Sam already knew the answer. He looked up into Jess's eyes hopefully.

"So it's really true," Jess shook her head. "I had hoped that it was all… you know."

"Pretend? I wish it was too."

Jess bit her lip, looking to the ground. "Why didn't you tell me about all this?"

"I did. You didn't believe me."

Sam could tell Jess was fighting back tears, and it was all he could do just to stand there and not do anything about it.

"I'm sorry. For everything."

"No, Jess…"Sam shook his head. " If things were the other way around, I would have done the same thing. And as for the demon… that wasn't you."

"How could you even say that?" Jess blurted out, upset. "After everything that happened to you…"

"It wasn't!" Sam put a hand under Jess's chin gently and lifted her face up to meet him. "There was nothing you could have done. If anything I wish _I_ could have protected _you_ from that, but I'm just happy you're okay."

"I'm fine Sam. I just can't believe you're worrying about me right now. After everything… I mean just look at you! Why in earth are you out of the hospital?'

"Everybody keeps asking me that?" Sam gave her a little smile, making light of the situation. "I'm going to be alright. _We're _going to be alright."

"Are we?"

"Of course." Sam nodded; sure of what he didn't know. "This isn't going to change anything for me Jess."

Jess wrapped her arms around him, and he pulled her into a hug, wincing as she pressed against his broken ribs.

"I love you Sam." Jess whispered.

Sam kissed the top of her head. "I love you too."

"I know." Jess pulled away. "I found…"She reached into her pocket – his pocket – and pulled out the little ring box and t-shirt. " I don't think I was supposed to find these." She looked down to the items with a smile. "I don't mean to be hopeful or anything, but…"

"I was going to purpose." Sam looked down to the ring too. The shirt didn't really need an explanation.

"Was?" Jess's smile faded. "Did something change your mind?"

"No. But I…"Sam hesitated. " I thought I was done hunting. For good. But that demon attack showed me that there are still things out there I can't run from. And I don't want anyone I love caught in the crossfire. Especially you. I don't want to let anything to happen to happen to you."

"Then don't," Jess argued, surprising Sam. "John told me you fought back against the demon. You tried to get rid of it. And either you managed to or it went away before you finished the job. Sam," Jess challenged him. "I'm not afraid of anything these things can do to me because I know you will always be behind me. The only thing I'm afraid of is loosing you."

"Jess…"Sam didn't know what to say. " These things. They're evil. And they're real. There are things out there, and not just demons, that" –

"Real?" Jess shook her head. "I know what's real. This is real." She held up the ring box. "You wont get rid of me that easily."

"No?" Sam couldn't help smiling. He took the ring box from her hands. "I wont?"

"Never." Jess smiled. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Then tell me one thing," Sam looked directly into Jess's eyes.

"And what is that?"

Slowly, Sam sunk down to one knee. "Jessica Lee Moore," Sam's smile widened when he saw the look on Jess's face. "Will you marry me?"


	20. Chapter 20

Sam lied awake in his bed, unable to sleep, but he didn't mind. It was hard to be upset with Jess beside him, sleeping softly. Looking over to the nightstand beside him, Sam saw the little box holding Jess's engagement ring. Beside it, but much less impressive, was the plain silver band that Jess had gotten Sam hours after she agreed to marry him. It wasn't anything fancy, but it was enough. Sam didn't need a fancy ring.

He was engaged. To Jessica. Sam smiled, still wondering if it was all a dream. And not only did she say yes, but she said yes even though she knew about _everything_ that his family did. Well, _almost_ everything. There were still a few things that needed explaining, like the credit card scams, or why they hunted in the first place. But all that could wait. And Sam knew that Jess could wait for the truth. She had gone almost two years wondering about his family, and why he was so secretive about his childhood, but now she knew. The deeper truths about hunting, and about his past, could wait for another day.

Sam's eyes drifted to the ceiling, and he felt that familiar second of tension. It had been good to get the truth about his nightmares off his chest, to tell his father about them. John had said that they were from the demon attack, and Sam trusted that John knew what he was talking about. But still, he had been having these dreams for months. And if the car crash dream came true, could this one? Maybe these new temporary dreams of his could help him some how. If only there were some way to know for sure what was real, and what was causing the dreams in the first place. And why did the nightmare of the car crash make him pass out, or was it that he passed out before the dream? That had never happened with this dream.

So many questions….

Looking over to the alarm clock beside him, Sam sighed, and reached out with one arm for his pain medication. It was time for another dosage. Even though Sam was getting pretty sick of having to carry more pills than a pharmacy, he was relieved that they helped. The hospital had called about his disappearance, as he had expected, and after a long talk with his doctor about why he needed to say home – mostly lies – they finally came to an agreement that Sam could stay at home if Sam sent someone to get his meds and give the doctor a report on his progress every day. That meant that Jess, John and Dean got to switch off every day, but none of them complained. Sam could tell that they were happy to see him getting better, slow as the progress may be.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Bring!_

"Do you know where the phone is?" Jess stuck her head into the bedroom as the phone rang, and left when she realized Sam asleep. Normally, he would be awake by now, but he needed his sleep now more than ever.

_Bring!_

"Arg! Just a minute!" Jess shuffled around the living room, before finally finding the phone on the couch under a pillow. "Hello?"

"Hey Jess," her father Rob's voice greeted from the other end. "We are still a few hours out, but your mother lost the directions you gave us, and I was just wondering what hotel we were supposed to book into."

Jess paused. "What?"

"The hotel." Rob laughed. "Don't tell me you forgot already. It _is_ your birthday tomorrow. We told you we would be there this year."

Jess sighed, sitting down on the couch. _Crap._ She had forgot! With everything that was going on lately, she had forgotten that her parents were coming. How long ago had they talked about this? It seemed like forever ago. Heck, she had even forgot to notice her oncoming birthday!

"Everything okay there kiddo?" Her dad used her old nickname from her teens. It was probably just habit. "You don't sound too exited."

"Dad I…"Jess didn't know what to say. " I completely forgot. I don't think I will be able to make it."

"You forgot? How could that happen?" Rob still seemed pretty lighthearted, perhaps thinking she was joking. Jess hated to be the one to burst his party bubble.

"I've just been so preoccupied," Jess started. "Some stuff has come up lately…."

"Working hard in school I see." He laughed. "Well I'm sure you and Sam could use a night off."

"I'm not sure if that's possible dad. I'm sorry. We have some people coming to the house today to look over the apartment."

"But your birthday isn't until tomorrow."

"Still…"

"What are they doing in the apartment? Electrical?"

"Not sure." Jess said slowly. "General inspection I think. And a lock change."

"For what?"

"Er…"Jess sighed again. Might as well be as honest as she could. "Somebody broke into the apartment a week ago. The apartment inspectors were going to come on Thursday but one of their trucks broke down."

"Broke in? Oh wow." Rob replied, genuine concern in his voice. "Is everything okay? Nothing stolen or missing?"

"Well, no. We weren't that lucky."

"What do you mean?"

"Sam was home when they broke in. They beat him up pretty bad." Jess knew the story by heart. They had all memorized it.

"Oh my god. Is he okay?"

"That depends on your definition of okay. He's got broken ribs and some head injuries and cuts. But they let him come home. He's out of commission for a few weeks at least."

"That's horrible," Rob answered. "Look, is there anything we can do to help? Anything we can pick up for you?"

Jess sighed, thinking. She opened the fridge, shuffling through things with one hand while she held the phone with the other. "I think we need some groceries. Eggs, cheese, milk, that sort of thing. Nothing specific. Just food."

"Okay…"There were scratching noises like Rob was writing these down. He had probably pulled over the car when he heard about Sam. Jess wondered if her mother could hear the conversation, and if she couldn't, what she was thinking. "We wont be there until about three. And after we get set up in a hotel, it wont be until four. I can drop by around then."

"Thanks dad." Jess sniffled. She wasn't going to cry. She couldn't. "That sounds great. And sorry about the party."

"That's fine kiddo," Rob assured kindly. "Just take care of yourself. And Sam."

"I will." Jess bit her lip. _Not again._ Why did she have to cry? Sam was being strong. Why couldn't she? "We will be okay. Bye dad."

"See you in a bit."

Jess walked quietly into the bedroom, looking for her math books. Although she had been given an extension on her work also, she needed something to distract her. She pulled her bag out from under the bed, and cursed quietly as her books scattered across the floor.

"Having trouble?" Sam looked over at her with amusement in his eyes.

"A little." Jess looked up at him from the ground, picking up her books. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"That's okay." Sam rubbed his eyes, fighting back a yawn. "I can't sleep all day, now can I?"

"I think that's the point," Jess laughed, shoving the papers back into her bag. She stopped when she found a newspaper, ripped in half, on the floor beside her. She held it up, to Sam. "Bored, were we?"

Sam's smile faded as he looked at the paper. He seemed to have just remembered something.

Jess turned the paper around, looking at the cover. Her doctor's picture was on the cover, along with a heading stating his death. "Oh my god." Jess's brow furrowed. "That was right after my appointment. How did this happen?"

"Jess…"Sam sat up slowly, wincing. He knew something, Jess could tell. And it wasn't just about her doctor. "I… There's still something I need to tell you." He seemed really upset.

"What is it Sam?" Jess stood, leaving her books on the floor, and sat down on the side of the bed. "Do you know something about this?"

Sam hesitated, looking at the paper. "It's not about the doctor Jess."

"Than what is it about?" Jess was confused.

"The demon…"Sam stopped. " I wasn't sure how to tell you. And after everything that happened I…"

"Tell me what?" Jess looked down at the paper in her hands, then up at Sam. "What about the demon?"

Sam still didn't look at her. "Jess… You didn't …"  
"I didn't what?"

"You didn't loose the baby."

"Sam, I saw the scan's myself. I think I would know if I was still" –

"That's not what I meant." Sam cut in. "The demon told me something, when… you know."

"When I was possessed." Jess answered for him. "Sam, you can say it."

Finally, Sam looked up to meet Jess's eyes. "It… It killed our baby Jess. The doctor was possessed."

Jess didn't know what to say. She looked down to the paper again, avoiding Sam's eyes as a tear finally slid down her cheek.

"Jess… I'm so sorry." Sam was still watching Jess, apology written across his face.

"Stop saying that!" Jess sobbed angrily, looking at Sam again. "Why do you always say that? I don't need you to apologize. I just want to know why. Why is any of this" –

"Because of me!" Sam clenched his jaw. Obviously his will not to cry was stronger than hers. "Because of my family. Something's wrong with us. Why do you think I left? Why do you think I didn't tell you about this? Because wherever we go, people die. They _die_. And this demon, it willing to kill go get to us."

Jess took a deep breath, steadying herself. "Dean told me about your mom. I know I could never understand what you went through with all that, but that doesn't mean" –

"You weren't there" –

_Bring! _Sam's phone rang, and he pulled himself up to a stand, grabbing his cell phone from the table. "Hello?" He hesitated. "That's alright. Yep…. Fine. Just woke up."

Jess sat on the bed, avoiding Sam's eyes. They hadn't fought in a long time… And they had just gotten engaged! Could this demon thing really jeopardize their relationship?

"Uh huh…"Sam listened to the other end of the phone. Jess recognized Dean's voice, but she couldn't hear what he was saying. "Maybe later, thanks. I was just going for a drive." Sam grabbed the keys off the counter, and headed for the door. He was still on the phone, but Jess knew he would hang up the second he was out of the apartment.

"Sam!" Jess stood up, but the door already slammed behind him.  
Jessica Moore stood there for a minute, starring at the door shut firmly in front of her. She had never felt so alone, and somehow, she knew Sam was feeling the same way.


	21. Chapter 21

Sitting in the driver's seat of his rental car, Sam both hands on the wheel. He was five miles out of town, but he wasn't driving. As easy as it would be to run away… he didn't want to run away. He just wanted… My god, what did he want?! Everything, every single thing that was happening… it just wanted it to stop. The dreams, the demons, the notes, the injuries, the weird looks. Why couldn't he just be normal?! Why did all this have to happen? … The dreams, the demon attacks… The miscarriage! Why did he attract all these supernatural things?

After a few minutes, Sam pulled the keys out of the ignition. He couldn't leave. But he needed a few minutes to just sit and vent. He felt horrible to just leave Jess like that, but he knew that he needed a break.

Sam's head began to hurt again. He began to fumble in his pocket for his painkillers, and it suddenly got worse. He put a hand to his head, but it didn't do anything to stop it. Sam clenched his jaw, his hand tightening around the steering wheel. His vision flickered behind closed eyelids. _There were images he couldn't make out… something moving in a blurry blue mass._ Sam wasn't even aware of his actions as the scene took place before his unwilling eyes. He might have cried out in pain, or hit something, but he just remembered what he saw. _It was water, he finally found out. That was what the blue mass was. A body floated, suspended in perpetual destruction, oxygen floating for the last time from its lips as it sunk down in the water. The person was a young man, as far as Sam could make out. He was about eighteen or nineteen, with flaming red hair grown fairly long in a punk style. The man's eyes were cold. Dead._

The first thing Sam was aware of was that his phone was ringing. He took deep breaths. It felt like he had been winded, although minutes ago – or however long it had really been – that his head felt like it would explode. He took another minute to catch his breath, before slowly picking up his phone. "…Hello?"

"Hey…"Dean seemed a bit uncomfortable, as if he was crossing unknown boundaries. " Er… Jessica was just wondering where you were."

"Was she?"

"Do you want me to tell her something?" Dean seemed to be implying something. His secret question was apparent. _"ARE you okay?"_

"Um… No. That's fine. I'll be home soon." Sam was vague about when _soon_ was, but he wasn't lying.

"So, what's going on with you lately? Dad got a phone call yesterday, and he seemed really worried about something, and then you just leave without saying anything, and I was just wondering" –

"How I was?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know Dean, you tell me." Sam's voice wasn't angry, but somehow that made it worse. He couldn't take it anymore. "First… Jess calls and says that we lost the baby, then I fly home to get the shit kicked out of me by a demon, then I find out that the demon actually caused her to loose the baby, and it somehow has something to do with our family. Jess and I just got into a fight over, oh yeah, every _freaking_ thing that has ever _freaking_ happened in his freaking family, and I'm probably failing this LSAT's because of all this, so there goes a year's worth of college. And to top it off, I have slept maybe two hours total in the past two months, not including the part where I was knocked unconscious countless times in a row. But yeah, I'm fine!"

Dean paused, probably trying to process all that information at once. "Sam…"Dean's voice was cautious. " First of all, I'm supposed to be the angry brooding one, remember?"

"Bite me." Sam hesitated. "And by the way, thanks for the warning. Jess _already_ knew about mom."

"She asked how we started, and I told her."

"I think my girlfriend should hear my life story from me, thanks."

"Sam, what's this really about?" Dean interrupted Sam' s second outburst. "And _why _have you not been getting any sleep?"

"Dean…"Sam sighed. " I'm tired."

"Of what?"

"Of fighting. With you, with Jess, with dad. With myself. I'm sick of it."

Sam could hear the jangling of keys on the other end of the phone. "Sam… I don't know all of what's going on, but you don't have to tell me right now."

Sam didn't reply.

"Where are you?"

"In the car, five miles south of town."

"Are you okay to drive?"

Sam huffed. "I don't drink and drive Dean."

"No," Dean laughed, "I just don't think you are supposed to drive right now, what with all the med's they have you on."

"I'm fine Dean," Sam sighed.

"Well then I'll meet you somewhere. The hotel, your place, anywhere. I just don't think you should be alone right now."

Sam was too tired to object, and somehow the prospect of telling Dean about everything didn't seem too bad. Hopefully he would have the same bravery when he got there. "Okay. There's a little coffee house on the corner of 21st and 2nd. How about there?"

"Sounds good to me," Dean agreed, but he still sounded concerned. "Meet you there in half an hour?"

"In counting." Sam sighed to himself, and then hung up the phone. He closed his eyes for a moment, the memory of his "dream" still strong. They wouldn't be able to save the boy. That much was certain. He was going to drown somewhere, anywhere, and at the rate that the last dream came true, there wouldn't be time to find him. _Poor kid._

With slow, trepid movements, Sam turned the car around, and was soon on his way to the coffee house.


	22. Chapter 22

Dean hung up the phone with partial satisfaction. On the one hand, Sam wasn't completely shutting him out. But on the other hand… Well he would know what the other hand was when he finally got Sam to spill his secrets. Whatever they were…

Pulling into an exit lane, Dean decided that he might as well stop by the hospital on the way and pick up Sam's medication. Dean still didn't understand why Sam wasn't in the hospital. He would have to bring it up when he saw Sam. _God, I hope that kid is taking his drugs._ With a sigh, Dean shook his head. He wasn't Sam's father, so why did he act like it? _Because dad's never there._ Again, Dean caught himself. John did the best he could. He always did. Dean should know that better than anyone.

With a lazy turn, Dean pulled into a parking spot of the hospital, and put the keys in his pocket before entering the building. He would only be a few minutes anyhow.

At the desk, Dean handed in the slip sighed by Sam's doctor that gave him permission to handle his medication. If Sam hadn't been in such a bad condition, Dean would have complained about this. But watching out for Sam was Dean's job. It had always been that way, and despite whatever Sam said or did, it always would be.

Dean's ears picked up a familiar voice, and he looked around to see a woman with long brunette hair with her back to him, talking to one of the doctors. Dean watched her for a moment, trying to recognize where he knew her.

"There you go." The nurse handed Dean a paper bag full of little pill bottles, and Dean took them with a smile, making his way over to the woman just as she left the doctor.

The woman turned around, adjusting her jacket, but stopped when she saw Dean. It was the woman from the bar in Canada.

_What the…_

Dean was somehow comforted by the look of confusion on the woman's face. Clearly this surprised her also.

"Megan right?" Dean approached the woman, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. And Dean?" She smiled.

"But what are you doing here?"

"My," Megan looked over to the direction where patient's rooms were. "My dad had a heart transplant. I flew in yesterday."

"Oh, wow." Dean frowned. "They flew him to Pablo Alto for a heart transplant?"

"No," Megan smiled at his misconception. "He lives an hour from here. My parents are divorced."

"That makes a bit more sense." Dean agreed, checking his watch. There was still fifteen minutes until he was supposed to meet Sam.

Megan must have noticed his anxious looks. "So, why are you here?" It wasn't a pickup line; she sounded genuinely concerned. Dean liked that about her.

Dean could have lied, but the story he knew was a lie anyways. "My brother is supposed to be here," he admitted, scratching the back of his head subconsciously. "But he's to stubborn for that apparently."

"The brother who left Kindertown early?" Megan seemed to remember those details of their conversation a week ago. "What happened?"

"Some thugs broke in to his apartment. The police said it was probably an attempted robbery. They beat him up pretty bad."

"That's horrible," Megan sighed. "So why isn't he in the hospital?"

Dean gave a shrug. "That's what I've been asking myself. I think he's worried about his girlfriend being home alone right now."

"Aren't we a sad bunch?" Megan huffed halfheartedly.

"You got that right."

"I'm getting pretty sick of hospitals," Megan looked around her with distain. "How would you like to get a coffee?"

"Can't." Dean nearly hit himself in the head for turning her down. "I'm supposed to meet Sam in…"He checked his watch. " Soon."

"Well then, I guess I'll give you my number," Megan dug in her purse for a pen. "No one should go through these things alone, right? I know I can't."

"Fair enough," Dean laughed.

Megan hesitated, fumbling though her purse and frowning. "Crap."

"What?"

"I don't have any paper."

Dean held out his hand, and Megan looked at him curiously. When she realized he wasn't joking, she shrugged. "Well this is turning out just like a movie, isn't it?" She wrote her cell number on his hand, and smiled. "I've always wanted to do that."

"Write your number on someone's hand?"

Megan gave Dean a little smile. "We'll I guess I'm more of a cocktail napkin kind of girl."


	23. Chapter 23

_What was I thinking picking a coffeehouse as the meeting place?_ Sam avoided the eye of yet another "concerned" customer who sent curious glanced his way every thirty seconds.

"What?" Sam asked the man after a prolonged stare, and the man turned back to his coffee.

The sound of the door opening and closing entered the room, and Dean approached Sam, sitting down across from him.

"Hey," Dean sat down across from Sam, and grimaced. "Feel any better?

"What do you think?" Sam mumbled, glaring at the man who was staring at him again. "Dean, this was a bad idea."

"Sam, we need to talk," Dean gave Sam that "you know what I mean" look.

Sam didn't say anything. He didn't know what to say.

"Look," Dean dropped his voice a little bit. "You're scaring me. And I know you well enough to know that you are keeping something from me. And it's killing you."

"You don't know that," Sam didn't know why he was arguing. He was supposed to be telling Dean the truth, not hiding it. But after telling John, Sam didn't know if he had the strength to do it again.

Dean frowned, and then leaned forwards across the table a little bit. "Then prove me wrong Sam, because from what I can see, something's up with you."

A waitress stopped by their table, smiling a little forcefully at them. Sam was painfully aware of his beaten-up appearance. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"I'll have a coffee," –

"Two water's. Thanks." Dean interrupted, glaring at Sam.

The waitress hesitated, unsure what was going on before her, but then decided to get out of here, smiling and leaving right away.

"Coffee? Are you kidding me?" Dean gestured his head in the direction of the waitress casually. "That is the last thing you need right now."

"I'm not the coffee addict Dean," Sam argued back.

"No, that's _still_ me. But _I_ don't need a pharmacy delivered to me every day." Dean tossed Sam his bag of med's to prove a point.

"Fine. Next time, you fight off the homicidal demon without hurting anybody, and I can have the caffeine."

"Well aren't you a happy camper," Dean sighed sarcastically. "Sam, this is exactly what I'm talking about. I haven't seen you so upset about anything since you left home."

"You haven't seen me much since then."

"Well then can you give me the benefit of the doubt and tell me what's going on in that freaky head of yours? You agreed to meet me here Sam."

The waitress came back, and they took their waters with half smiles before she left again.

"Well?"

Sam took a big drink of his water in almost a tired, half drunken manner, even though he hadn't had a drink in a week and a half. "I've been having these…"He hesitated. " These dreams, lately."

Dean raised his brow knowingly at Sam. "Those one's you were having when we were in Canada?"

"Yeah."

"And what about them?" Dean seemed concerned. Sam wished he wouldn't do that.

"They're… They're coming true Dean."

"Sorry?" Dean seemed to be unsure if he heard Sam properly. "Coming true? Want to clarify that a bit?"

"You heard me Dean."

"So how long?"

Sam paused, confused. "How long what?"

"How long have these dreams been going on? And another thing, what are these dreams even about?"

"A month or so, I guess. And that" –

"You've been having freaky visions that are coming true, and you didn't tell anyone about it for over a month?"

Sam ignored the stare of the man at the bar as he turned around again to glare at them. "Any louder and you might as well just announce who we are," he hissed. "And no, they didn't start coming true until now. It was just a one-time thing. And dad said that it was just because of the demon thing, that it was going to go away."

"And what do you think Sam? Because you seem pretty defensive for a 'one-time thing'."

"It's complicated." For some reason, Sam didn't want to tell Dean about the dreams of Jess. Those wouldn't come true. They wouldn't. No chance.

"Then what about all these nightmares you were having in Canada? And for who-knows-how-long before that?" Dean lowered his voice, but he sounded upset.

"That one didn't come true," Sam answered, his voice quiet also.

Dean paused, and then leaned forwards a little. "You've been having the same nightmare for two months?"

Sam didn't say anything. Why was this so hard? _Imagine if I had told dad this in person…_

"What is this dream about Sam?"

"Dad said that it wouldn't come true, that it's just" –

"I don't want you to tell me because I'm afraid of it coming true. We both know that if dad says it's safe, it's safe. Clear as that. Except for one thing," Dean reached into his pocket, and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. He smoothed it out with his hands before tossing it across the table to Sam. "I found this in your apartment."

Sam picked up the note. It read

_Sweet Dreams._

_Aren't you glad you didn't answer your phone?_

"To be honest, I normally wouldn't give a crap what you dream about Sam," Dean was watching for a reaction from Sam, but he was struggling to keep his face expressionless. "This is a tough gig. We all get our fair share. But _I_ didn't write this note. _Dad_ didn't write this note. And I'm sure as hell going to assume _Jessica_ didn't write this note. It's not you're writing either. So then who the hell is leaving you notes like this?"

Sam's eyes slowly rose from the note to Dean. "The demon."

"When? And for that matter, _why_?"

"I found it when we went to the nest," Sam's voice was barely auditable." Before Jess called about the baby. I didn't think you needed to know because we found out why anyhow. It knew Jess would call me because it killed the baby itself."

"That I get," Dean still didn't seem convinced. "But it's the first part that gets me. Would a demon be concerned about a nightmare you had unless it was important to it?"

"No…"

"Than please, just tell me what's going on," Dean pleaded. "What is this nightmare?"

Sam sighed deeply, his eyes rising slowly to meet Dean's. "You really want to know the truth?"


	24. Chapter 24

Jess was brought back to the present by a soft knocking on the door. Wiping her eyes, she sat up off the couch and smoothed out her clothes, stuffing the box of tissues under the table and trying to smile. _Sam._ She made her way to the door, wondering what she would say. Why did things have to be so complicated between them? Jess hated it. How could she be so blind, going on in ignorant bliss while a secret so big as this was hiding behind the surface of hers and Sam's relationship? And this life, this secret that he and his family shared, it controlled him. It really did. He tried to fight it, which was clear. He had run away from it to come to Stanford. But still, the scars were still there. Jess had found that out a couple of hours ago.

Unlocking the door slowly, Jess opened the door.

"Hey kiddo," Rob smiled at her from the doorway, two grocery bags in his hands.

Jess smiled, biting her lip. "I can't believe you still call me that dad." She backed up, gesturing for him to come in. She was somehow both relieved and disappointed to see him and not Sam standing in her doorway.

"What else am I supposed to call you?" Rob gave her a smile, setting the bags on the counter "I'm not sure where any of this goes."

"That's okay. I'll put everything away later." She hesitated.

"Are you just going to stand there, or are you going to give your old man a hug?" Rob held his arms out with a joking smile, and Jessica let herself be pulled into a hug. She rested her head on his shoulder; wishing that she were a little kid again and everything could be solved by a parent's embrace.

"Everything okay Jess?" Rob's voice was questioning.

Unable to say anything, she started to cry.

"Hey, hey." He pulled her back, wiping the tears off her cheeks with his thumbs, his hands on the side of her face. "What's wrong? Did something else happen?"

"No," Jess sniffed, sighing. "Just everything. The whole thing with Sam and then the baby and its all" –

"The baby? What happened to the baby?" Jess shook her head, unable to talk, and Rob nodded slowly in understanding. "Oh sweetie. I'm sorry." He hugged her again, letting her cry on his shoulder. "I never would have wanted you and Sam to have to go through all this…."

"I know dad."

"Where is Sam? "

The door opened slowly, and Jess turned to see Sam walk through the door, followed by Dean.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dean hesitated in the door, hating to interrupt what was already an interruption on Sam's part. And heck, this wasn't even Dean's family.

Sam's eyes went from Jess to Rob, with a hidden apologetic smile for her and an embarrassed one for him. "Mr. Moore." He held out a hand, and Rob shook it with a smile.

"I thought I told you not to call me that boy." Rob pulled away, and both of them hid glances at Jess, who was wiping her eyes and regaining her composure as quickly as she could muster, although her eyes were still a little red. Rob looked Sam over. "So I hear you've had quite an ordeal," he said in that casual but yet fatherly way.

Sam nodded, shrugging with a sad smile. "We have," he threw in a _we_ for Jess's sake. It was almost an apology only she understood. "But we're working on it."

"Well you were always a tough son of a gun," Rob offered, nodding.

Dean huffed to himself, but was embarrassed when the whole room turned to look at him. _Was that out loud? Awkward._

Sam regarded Dean with an eye roll, before turning back to Rob. "My brother, Dean."

"Mr. Moore," Dean offered a hand to shake, and it was received with a weird look worthy of his interruption.

"Rob. It's a pleasure. I haven't met any of Sam's family yet."

"We travel a lot," Dean gave Sam a knowing look. "Some _issues _we had to take care of."

Rob nodded, a curious expression on his face. "Mind if I ask what sort?"

Dean shrugged casually. "Can't say." He threw a sly look at Sam and Jess. "So, Rob, I guess you'll be needing a place to stay?"

"I suppose we do."

"We?"

"My wife and I," Rob nodded. "I dropped her off at the mall on the way here. She had some things she needed to pick up."

"Well, If you want," Dean led him casually by the arm towards the door. "I can show you where the best hotel in town is, so you and you're wife don't get stuck in some dump. It's no trouble."

"If you're sure…"Rob let Dean show him out the door.

"No, not at all." Dean threw Sam a wink before shutting the door. "I need to refill the impala anyways."

Sam stood shaking his head at Dean for a minute, staring at the closed door. Jessica did the same. Eventually their eyes drifted back to each other, realizing that they were alone. _What the heck was that Dean?_

"Jess I…"Sam cleared his throat. " I'm sorry about earlier. I crossed the line."

Jess shook her head. "I kept pushing you. It wasn't fair to demand so much. I" –

"This has been my whole life Jess," Sam interrupted. "Hunting. But you just found out all about this. You have every right to ask questions."

Nodding, Jessica's voice was soft. "Still, clearly I hit a fuse, and I'm sorry. I'm confused out of my mind by all of this, and I didn't mean to take it out on you. This isn't your fault."

Sam hesitated.

"It's not." Jess worked up a small smile. "Demons are… well… they're demons! Head spinning, crawling on the ceiling, straight out of hell demons. You can't even try to understand something so evil. Whatever the reason it chose us to torment you is not your…"She sighed, sniffling again, and Sam pulled her into a hug. "It's not!" Her voice was muffled against him.

"It's okay Jess…"Sam wrapped his arms around her. " This is nothing to get worked up over. I'm not mad."

"I'm sorry… It's just...."She sniffed again.

Jess didn't even have to finish the sentence. _The baby._ "I know…"He sighed, keeping his voice as calm as he could. " I wish the demon didn't have to drag you into this."

She nodded still pressed against him. "Now I see why you left."

Sam frowned, pausing. "I wish I _had_ left it for good. But…"He fingered his engagement ring, thinking. "This life found me. And I wont be able to leave. Not until I'm done killing these things. The demons, the vampire nest, the… The thing that killed my mom." He pulled her away from him gently, looking her in the eyes. "This is my burden. This is _our_ burden. Dad and Dean, I can't abandon them again. Not when monsters need killing, and demons need exorcizing. I don't have a choice." He looked down, hesitating. With a deep breath, he continued. "But _you_ do. Jess… You don't have to live this life."

"Sam…"

"I mean it. I don't want to drag you into something that…"He looked back up at her again, pleading. "This isn't as simple as mortgage, or a house, or even a ring. This is you and I on the road, stuck in the car _every_ _day_ while Dean sings AC/DC over and over. This is my dad and I fighting neck and neck all the time over _everything_. This is _guns_, and _knifes_, and Latin, and sleeping with one eye open in fear every night. Who knows how long this is going to take! It's already been twenty years we've been doing this, and we haven't found the thing. And it's not just that! There are the actual things we're hunting! Things that want to kill us, or sacrifice us, or eat us, or…"He cut himself short, realizing that he was rambling. "You deserve normal. You deserve a perfect house, and a husband who doesn't keep a gun in his bag."

Jess was looking down slightly, processing all of this. "You… you keep a gun in your bag?"

Sam hesitated, before drawing his .45 from the back of his waistband. He looked at it for a moment, before continuing. "I don't want to sweep you up in all of this. If you…"His eyes moved from his gun to his ring. "If you don't want this, this life…"

"Sam…"

"I would understand. I" –

Jess interrupted Sam by pulling him into a kiss. "No," Jess pulled away, looking up at him then down at the gun. "I don't want _this_. But I want _you_, and that's good enough for me. We can always buy a new CD for Dean when the AC/DC gets old, and I can get an MP3 player to drown out when you and John fight. When we drive in the car everyday, we can play the license plate game to pass the time. And when…"She sniffled again. "And if we _do_ have a kid, we can buy him a little army commander costume for Halloween."

Sam bit his lip, looking her in the eyes. Was she serious?

"And when he's older… Dean can teach him how to shoot a shotgun, and you can help him learn Latin, and he can go with John on take your kid to work day and sit in the truck and eat ice-cream…"She laughed, drying her eyes with her sleeve. "Listen to me…going on and on about this."

Sam looked down at the ground, then back up at Jess. "Do… Do you mean it?"

"Well I might have gone a little far with the ice-cream, but" –

"I'm serious."

Jess looked up to meet Sam's eyes, and they stayed that way for a moment. "Yes. I want this." She pushed the hand with the gun away slowly. "But I just need to slide into things. Finding out monsters are real is a big enough change for me, without guns and whatnot."

Sam put the gun back, a hint of a smile coming back to his face. "We haven't even hit the surface." His smile faltered for a second. "So if you're really serious about this, we need to take precautions."

"Like?"

"Little things at first. Baby steps. I can teach you how to at least recognize certain things. I don't think I want you out there hunting, but self-protection is a must."

"What does that require?"

"Just teaching you what's what, and how to protect yourself and recognize them. We don't need to do all this at once."

Jess nodded, faking seriousness. "That sound's like a lot of work…"She let a smile sneak across her face before covering it quickly. " Can't I just sleep with the instructor?" She joked.

Sam laughed, pulling her into another kiss. "I was actually thinking that would be part of the class."

Jess pulled away, also laughing. "You pervert."

"But I'm a sweet pervert. And _you_ started it."

"As long as you're my pervert." Jess gave him a peck on the cheek. "But Sam…"She moved to the counter to grab a glass of water, throwing him a small smile over her shoulder. " I… I love you. You do know that right?"

Sam's smile widened. "I love you too Jess. And yeah, I know." He followed to get a glass of his own, stopping to grab a bag of chips from the counter. "Remember that movie we were watching, what… like a week in a half ago before this all started?"

"Yeah."

"We really should finish it."

Jess set her glass on the little table by the couch, smiling. "Do you even remember what it was abouts?"

"Not really." Sam shrugged, and he pushed the movie into the DVD player before they sat down together. "But I remember that it scared the heck out of you." He threw her a little smile. "It was so cute."

Jess raised her eyebrows in jest. "Oh really? Now I think you are just trying to annoy me."

Sam feigned disappointment, all the while putting his arm around Jess jokingly. It was great to be back to normal. "You beat me up and turn me down in one week? Ouch!"

"That's not funny," Jess gave him a kiss.

"sssssIt's a _little_ funny." Sam returned the favor, ignoring the movie as it began to play.


	25. Chapter 25

"Hey Sam!" Dean let himself back into Sam's apartment an hour after he had left.

"Hey," Sam said quietly, putting a finger in front of his lips to signal quiet. He gestured to Jess, who was asleep, her head on his shoulder.

"Sammy boy!" Dean laughed softly, shaking his head.

"Shut up."

"Dad was wondering if you wanted to stop by. It's been forever since us guys have just hung out, you know what I mean?"

"Sure," Sam slowly pulled himself away from Jess without waking her up, and pulled a blanket over her. He looked at her for a minute. "Isn't she pretty?" He smiled.

"Yeah, she's gorgeous Romeo. Now can we leave before I puke?"

Sam rolled his eyes, scribbling a quick note to Jess stating where he would be. "Okay, let's go."

Sam was about to walk out the door when Dean stopped him. "Did you take your pills?"

"Yeah, I've got them with me." Sam pulled a little bottle from his jacket pocket, and Dean nodded.  
"How do you feel?"

"Not bad. Getting better."

"Headaches?"

"Sometimes."

"How are the broken ribs?"

"Okay."

"And what about" –

"Dean, I'm fine. Stop mothering me. I'm going to get enough of that from dad."

Dean shrugged. "That's my job, isn't it?"

They left as quietly as they could, and made their way to Dean and John's hotel room.

"Hey dad." Sam walked into the room, and was greeted with a smile.

"Nice to see you up and at 'em. How do you feel?"

Sam sighed. "Ask Dean."

"Hey you're lucky to be able to leave the hospital at all, and we promised to take care of you."

"Whatever dad." Sam sat down at the couch, after helping himself to a beer from the fridge.

John raised an eyebrow. "You sure you should be drinking?"

"Dad, I have a concussion. I'm not dying."

"It's a con_tu_sion, actually. And I don't think you understand how serious this is Sam."

"If anyone understands it, it's me." Sam opened the lid. "Unless I was, in fact, not there, which I think I was. I'm pretty sure."

John was just about to reply when Dean interrupted. "Okay no fighting! This is supposed to be bonding time. So bond!"

"Fine." Sam laughed, but set the bottle down on the table when his head gave a little pang of pain. _It can't be time for my painkillers already… _

"You know Dean, you are getting a little bossy lately," John teased Dean.

"Oh really? I find that hilarious coming from you…"

Another flare of pain erupted behind Sam's eyes, and he grit his teeth and put a hand to his forehead. In the background, John and Dean still bickered, ignorant of what was happening. _No, no. Not here, not again.. _Sam felt himself panicking, as the pain got worse. He let a moan of pain escape his lips.

"…Sam?" John's voice broke into Sam's consciousness as he doubled over in pain. It was worse than last time.

_No, no, no… Please don't be happening!_

"Whoa Sam, what's going on?" It was Dean's voice this time.

Light danced behind Sam's eyes as the visions started. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest, his pulse echoing painfully in his head as he cried out in pain. Someone gripped him by the shoulders as he slid to the floor. "_Sam_!"

_The man stood slowly, cautiously, after burying the box. He looked around, waiting for the one who would come. And why wouldn't they? After all, he had summoned the thing. _

_"Well look who it is…"A dark haired woman in a black dress shook her head with a smile. She had appeared out of nowhere. "A bon-fied Winchester. Do my eyes deceive me?"  
" No they don't." Sam still couldn't tell who the man was, even though he was supposed to be one of his relatives, or even him. "You know why I'm here."_

_"You want to make a deal, am I right?" The woman took a step closer, and the man one step back. "And the price?"_

_"My soul."_

_"Why that's a mighty fine offer for someone like you."_

_"Don't play games. That is what you take from everyone who makes a deal."_

_"And what would you be trading it for? To be the worlds best hunter?"_

_"I want you to save them. _Both_ of them."_

_The woman laughed. "From what? Where there's life there's hope."_

_"We both know that time is running out. Now do we have a deal or not?"_

_"I don't know… _Two_ lives has never been" –_

_"Like you said, it's _me_. I know I'm worth something to the man downstairs. Now I'm sure you can make an exception."_

_"Than _you_ will have to follow suit." The woman made another move on him, but he didn't back up. _

_"Five years?"_

_The woman laughed. _

_"One."_

_"You insult me."_

_"I can't go any lower."_

_"Well then I guess our discussion is over." The woman went to leave, but the man held out an arm to stop her. _

_"What do I have to do?"_

Sam woke up on the floor, his head killing him and his chest heaving. Dean and John were both kneeling over him with concerned expressions.

"Sam…"John shook his shoulders gently. " You okay?"

With a surprising amount of effort, Sam managed to nod.

Dean scowled. "What was that? You scared the crap out of me."

John looked from Dean to Sam. "It was a vision, wasn't it?"

"How…"Sam sighed, trying to catch his breath. " How did you know?"

"A what?! I thought you said those were in nightmares?" Dean sounded really concerned.

"They were…"Sam tried to stand up, but John pushed him back down.

"Give yourself a minute. You scared the hell out of us boy."

"Sorry…"

"Don't apologize." Dean shook his head.

"How…"Sam was angry that it took so long for the after-affects to wear off. His head still throbbed. "How long was I unconscious?"

"Not long." John answered. "Maybe five minutes." He hesitated. "What did you see?"

It was Sam's turn to hesitate. _I saw a man who is either one of us, and somehow I don't know whom. One of us sells our soul for the other two. How can I tell you that? _"Nothing new…"Sam eventually lied. " Just Jess again. I'm really starting to hate ceilings right now."

"I don't blame you man." Dean helped Sam to his feet, and Sam took a minute for his vision to steady. This really wasn't good for his recovery. "So, are we having fun yet or what?" Dean gave Sam a weak smile.

"Yeah…"Sam's voice was quiet, although Dean and John would misunderstand why. Only Sam knew the truth. " Major bonding time right here."


	26. Chapter 26

Jess was jerked awake by the sound of her phone ringing. "Mmph…"She yawned, and looked around. Sam had left, and in his place was a note saying that he was with his brother and father.

When Jess found her cell, she pulled it open quickly. "Hello?"

"Jess, honey, its good to hear from you."

"Tessa?" Jess was relieved to hear her best friend's voice on the other end of the line.

"I heard what happened. I wasn't sure if I should call or not, but it's been a few days and you haven't been at school yet and" –

"That's okay Tess, I'm glad you called." Jess smiled, although her friend couldn't see it. "So… what have you heard?"

"Not much," Tessa admitted. "No one really knows anything. One of Jeremy's friends told me that there was a break-in at your apartment and that Sam was in the hospital, but he didn't know anything else…"She paused. "So was Jeremy right? Did something happen to Sam?"

Jess sighed. "Yeah, Jeremy was right. A couple of thugs got into the apartment. The police said it was probably an attempted robbery that went wrong or something. I'm not sure." Jess hated lying to her best friend. But that was her life now, wasn't it? If she wanted to be with Sam, she couldn't have the life of a normal person. Tessa could never know.

"That's awful hun. How is Sam? Is he okay?"

"He will be." Jess moved the note from Sam back and fourth between her fingers, thinking. "He's tough."

"Don't I know it," Tessa agreed. "So what are the doctors saying?"

"I don't know yet. He's going back in two days."

Tessa hesitated. "Going back? Isn't he _in_ the hospital?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Sam wont hear anything of it. I think he hates the thought of leaving me alone here since we had the break in."

Jess could almost sense Tessa nodding. "How about I come over? We haven't talked in too long, and I'm sure you could use a break."

"Sounds good Tessa." Jess smiled. "Sam's brother is doing the same thing with him right now too. The only good thing that came out of this is that he's talking to his family again."  
" I never thought I'd see that happening. Sam barely ever talks about his family."

"They're a secretive bunch, but they are close. I'm glad to see Sam talking to them again." She paused. "So when can you come over?"

"How about in a half hour?"

"Sounds good Tessa. I missed you girl."

"Me too."

Tessa said her goodbyes, and both girls hung up the phone. Jess was exited to see her friend again after a week of near solitude. She had barely talked to another woman in almost a week now.

When Tessa got there, Jess pulled her friend into a big hug. She had been doing a lot of hugging lately, she noticed.

"So," Tessa held up a DVD. It was Titanic, one of Jess's favorite movies. She also held up a box of chocolates. "I thought you might need some of the good stuff."

Jess took the gifts with a gracious smile, and laughed at Tessa. "You know me way to well."

"That's my job hun." The girls sat down with their movie and chocolate, and got settled, and then Tessa continued. "Besides, with your birthday tomorrow, what are best friends for?"

"Exactly this!" Jess pulled off the plastic, and took a caramel-chocolate before handing Tessa the box. She took mocha.

Tessa munched on her desert, giving Jess a small smile. She seemed to be waiting for Jess to start talking or something. It was quiet, andsssssssssssssssss Jess wasn't sure what to say.

"You look thin," Tessa eventually piped up. "All of this can't be good for the baby."

"No. It can't," Jess sighed. Why did she have to tell everyone one at a time? "I lost the baby Tessa."

"Oh Jess…"Tessa pulled Jess into a hug. " I'm sorry." She hesitated. "You can cry if you want too hun, I don't mind."

"No, I've cried enough this week." Jess gave a little shrug. "It's just good to see you again."

"Yeah, it's good to see you too. So… Do you want to talk about it?"

"About what?"

"What do you mean about _what_? About everything. Jess, what happened here?"

Jess took a deep breath. It didn't help that her favorite sad movie was playing in the background. When she thought about it, she wasn't looking forward to then ending, where Jack dies protecting Rose. _Sam…_ Jess wasn't sure if she ever wanted to watch Titanic ever again after this. Sam had almost died, and the moral comparison between Jack and Sam wasn't comforting. And no, she didn't want to be a character from a romantic movie if it meant a sad ending.

Jess wished she could tell Tessa everything. They were best friends, and had been since they were in high school… But things had changed. _Well, _Jess looked down to her engagement ring. _Here goes nothing._


	27. Chapter 27

Jess paused the movie when the door opened, and Sam crept into the apartment, trying to be sneaky but failing. "Hey girls," He gave Jess and Tessa smile of greeting, setting his bag on the counter and throwing his jacket on the back of a chair.

"Oh my god, Sam!" Tessa jumped up, pulling him into a hug.

"Nice to see you too Tessa," Sam laughed, wincing at the pressure to his broken ribs. "What are you doing here?"

"Taking care of your fiancé here," Tessa gestured over to Jess. "I can't believe you purposed! Now of all times!?"

Sam shrugged a little bit, huffing. "Well I just figured that when in doubt," he joked. "Get down on one knee." He held Tessa out at arms length. "You look good," he offered. "Looks like Josh is one less boyfriend I have to beat up."

"Very funny!" Tessa laughed, faking insult. "But I don't think you should be beating anyone up anytime soon, even if needed!" She gave him a concerned look.

"Nah! I'm could still do it!" Sam put an arm around her jokingly. "Don't you worry your pretty little head about me."

Jess smiled up at Sam and Tessa, still sitting on the couch. She was glad to see him laughing and joking again.

"Well I'm at least relieved to see you so energetic, although you're being even more of a freak than usual." Tessa shook her head, frowning at Sam. "But seriously, are you sure you're okay?"

"I'll be fine Tessa," Sam shrugged away the subject, moving over to Jess. "Speaking of which, how was girl's day in?"

"Great," Jess sighed, smiling. "How was guys's day out?"

Sam paused for the briefest second, although Jess noticed his hesitancy. "Great," he lied. "I was thinking…"

"What?"

"We should go out to dinner tonight." Sam leaned on the edge of the couch, making eye contact. His tone was casual – After all, they did have company – but his eye's showed that he was serious. "I owe you a night out."

Jess was surprised, if not excited. "Are you" –

"I'm sure."

"Well then," Jess smiled, pleased. "Call it a date. I'll be there."

"You better."

"You guys make me sick," Tessa shook her head, laughing at the couple. "I'm going to get out of your hair before I puke."

"Thanks for coming Tessa!" Jess called after her friend, and Sam gave her a wave of goodbye before she left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jess looked around the classy restaurant, saluting Sam's taste. She had put up her hair in a cute up-do and dawned her little red dress for the occasion, and Sam had mysteriously come up with a rented tuxedo in time for their date.

"So," Sam frowned down at the menu, hiding his smile. "How broke would you like to make me tonight? I recommend the lobster, very couture."

"I was thinking steak," Jess continued on the joke. "Or maybe even both."

"Touché," Sam smiled, handing the menus to the waiter and pretending he didn't notice the man glaring down at the scratches on his face. Jess admired his bravado. _Yet another selfless Sam act. I wonder whether he is taking me out to dinner just to make me feel better._

They made their orders, and talked over their meals for a good forty-five minutes before Sam set down his glass to dig in his pocket for a minute, pulling out his pill-bottle and stealthily counting out his required amount without drawing any attention to himself.

"You alright?" Jess tried to keep the worry from her voice, but she knew she was failing.

"Fine," Sam popped all three pills at once, and forced a smile. "Doctor's orders, you know?"

"I know," Jess looked down to her plate, still unsatisfied.

"I should have purposed in a place like this…" Sam looked around the restaurant, changing the subject. " It would have been way more romantic."

"It was plenty romantic Sam," Jess offered, and she wasn't lying. "Even though you _do_ look good in a tux."

"Well thank you," Sam smiled smugly, checking her out. "You don't look too bad yourself."

Jess smiled, hesitating. Her eyes moved to the ring on her finger, and she toyed with an idea that came to her head, unsure where it came from. "You want to make it up to me?"

"Sure," Sam seemed intrigued, although he seemed to think she was still joking.

"Marry me," Jess whispered, leaning forwards.

Sam's smile faltered for a second, confused. "Jess, I already… I meant it when I purposed."

"I'm not purposing though," Jess let a smile creep across her face. "I'm not saying we should get married _someday_. I'm saying that we should get married right now. _Tonight_."

Sam hesitated, shaking his head a little bit. "I don't know Jess… I mean, we could do it right! Don't you want a procession, or a fancy hall? Flowers, a dress, anything?"

Jess shrugged. "I could find a dress."

"By tonight?!" Sam lifted his eyebrows a bit in disbelief. "Heck, Jess, we don't even have a witness."

"You think too much, Mr. Big Lawyer," Jess laughed. "And I'm not giving you the option."

"Oh you're not?" Sam chuckled at her. "What are you going to do, handcuff me to the altar?"

"If that's what it takes." Jess's smile widened.

"Well then do we invite the family? You're parents? John and Dean? Tessa maybe?"  
"I don't care," Jess shook her head, still smiling. "As long as you keep that tux on for the ceremony."

"Ahh," Sam looked down. "The tux. Typical chick-magnet."

"It's my turn to be spontaneous Sam." Jess lowered her voice a little bit. "Let's get married."

Sam's expression sobered a little bit. "You serious?"

"As can be." Jess hesitated. "But if you don't want to…"

"Check please!" Sam raised a hand, beckoning the waiter, then lowered his voice so only Jess could hear. "Jess, I would fight off a demon to be with you. You know that. And if _you_ want to get married tonight, _I_ want to get married tonight."

Jess's eyes lit up, and she felt herself break into a grin.

"Here you go sir," The waiter set down the checkbook on the table, and Sam tossed a hundred dollar bill on top of it. "I hope that accounts for you're tip." He stood, and gestured to Jess, who stood and made her way out of the restaurant with Sam as he put his arm around her. "I'd hate to miss my own wedding."


	28. Chapter 28

Sam shuffled his feet, waiting for the music to start. To be honest, he never pictured himself doing anything like this. Eloping? That was…well… not like Sam. But then again, it was _so_ not like Jess. At all. But still, it was her idea, and Sam was secretly exited to be getting married, even if it was in a cheep church with a priest who barely looked qualified to say grace at the local pot-lunch. But none of that mattered. It was to be with Jess.

When the wedding song began to play on the record player on the other side of the chapel, Sam's worries were erased as he saw Jess step into his view. She was beautiful. Jessica's hair still up from their dinner, little ringlets escaped from her up-do, falling gracefully on the nape of her neck as if planned that way. Sam didn't know where she found the dress, but it looked gorgeous on her. It wasn't anything fancy, but Sam didn't care about the dress and in his opinion, Jess looked amazing in anything. Just seeing her walk down the isle towards him, a glow to her face and a warm smile on her lips, made Sam forget about the cheep church, the cheep tux, the cheep dress. This was what he wanted. As Sam looked into Jess's eyes when she stepped up to the altar, he didn't even notice the music fading away in horrible timing, or the priest looking disapprovingly at the cuts on his face.

"Dearly beloved," the priest looked around the empty room. _Dean and dad are going to be pissed I didn't invite them,_ Sam thought to himself_, but this is something I needed to do for me. They will understand._ "We are gathered here today, to join in holy matrimony, Samuel Winchester and Jessica Le Moore. Now, this is supposed to be my day off, so we are going to do the improvised version. Any problems with that, you two?"

Sam kept his remarks to himself, shaking his head, and Jess did the same.

"Now," The priest continued, turning to Sam. "Do you Sam, take Jessica Lee Moore to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

"I do." Sam's voice was steady, still looking into Jess's eyes.

"And Jessica, do you take Samuel Winchester to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, or better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death do you part?"

"I do."

"Do you have rings?"

Sam took out Jessica's ring from his pocket, and looked to the priest.

"Now Sam, repeat after me." The priest droned on, and Sam gave Jess a hint of a smile, their inside joke. "I, Samuel Winchester..."

"I, Samuel Winchester…"

"Give you this ring,"

"Give you this ring."

"As a symbol of my undying love."

"As a symbol of my undying love." Sam slid the ring onto Jessica's finger slowly, repeating the phrase.

"Now Jessica, repeat after me…"

Jessica finished the phrase also, sliding Sam's ring onto his finger, and they looked to the priest to continue.

"Now for the vows, do you want to make your own, or use the contemporary version?" The priest asked the both of them.

"Make our own, I think." Jess looked up to Sam in question.

"I think we can wing it." Sam agreed, smiling.

"Alright Sam," the priest nodded. "You first."

Sam hesitated for a moment, choosing his words, then looked down into Jess's eyes again. "I, Sam Winchester, take you, Jessica Lee Moore, as my soul-mate and companion. Together, we can accomplish anything. We will be better together than we could be alone. We will share our love with the world. Together, our love will grow into a bond too strong to break. I promise to be there for you on your good days and your bad days. I know that what we have is real, and I promise to be there for you for all your life, come what may. When you need a helping hand, I want it to be me. When you need a shoulder to cry on, I want it to be me. When you need a protector, I want it to be me. With you by my side, I have nothing to fear. I promise to do stand beside you, to my best to make our lives better and better from this day on because I love you…

"This is my solemn vow." Sam didn't know where all the words came from, but he knew he meant them. He really did. Across from him, Jess's smile was as bright as the sun as a silent tear strayed down her cheek.

"Jessica," The priest looked over to Jess "Your turn."

Jess hesitated also, and Sam felt himself subconsciously fidgeting, as if he was getting ready to hear the winner of a noble prize. "I… Jessica Lee Moore," Jessica started, after she found words of her own. "Choose you, Samuel Winchester, to embark upon this great journey of marriage with me. We will have both our easy and hard times, but we can make it through them together. Through the good and bad, I want you to always know that I will be by your side. I will be there for you in the ups and downs of life. Though life may not always be as perfect as it is at this moment, I vow to always keep my love as pure and strong as it is today. When you need someone to encourage you, I want it to be me. When you need a helping hand, I want it to be mine. When you long for someone to smile at, turn to me. When you have something to share, share it with me. I will always be standing beside you, no matter what the circumstances, and I will always be there to support you in good times and bad. Nothing in life can possibly be as scary as marriage, and if I'm going to be scared of anything, I want you to be the one there beside me. I pledge my all to you.

"This is my solemn vow."

Sam couldn't help but smiling and he felt his own eyes get watery, and he cursed himself inwardly for being such a wuss. But maybe that was the whole point, sacrificing his pride for Jessica's love. It was a fine trade.

"Well then," The priest nodded at their words. "With God as my witness, I hereby do pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Sam pulled Jess into a lip-lock, pulling her closer as she wrapped her hands around his waist. After a moment, Sam saw the flash as the priest took a picture, and as they pulled away, the camera disposed a single picture, which the priest handed to Sam. "Congratulations," he said dryly, and Sam nodded in thanks, stuffing the picture in his pocket as he and Jessica walked out of the chapel, hand in hand.

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"Nope." Sam held out a hand as Jess got out her keys to the apartment, stilling her. "Don't do that. You're forgetting something."

"Wha" – Jess was cut short as Sam pulled her into his arms, and she laughed. "Carry me across the threshold? Could you _be_ any more old-fashioned?!"

"Shh…" Sam laughed, pushing the door open with his foot. "You're ruining the moment." Sam went to carry Jess through the door, but halted as she bumped her head on the edge of the door.

"Ouch!" Jess raised a hand to her head, and Sam winced, getting through the door properly and setting her down. "No, I think _you_ just ruined the moment."

"Ahh… Sorry." Sam kicked the door shut, and then pulled back her hair, checking the bruise, and kissed the top of her head. He pulled away, smiling at her until she smiled back. "Not the best move, huh?"

Jess pretended to think about it, and then shrugged. "I think I might be able to forgive you… maybe."

"How can I convince you?"

"I don't know…" Jess half-smiled. "I'm sure you can think of something."

Sam was about to state a come-back when his cell-phone rang, vibrating in the chest-pocket of the inside of his tux-jacket. "Hold that thought." He pulled out the phone, taking a few steps back. "Hello?"

"Hey man," Dean's voice greeted on the other end of the phone. "I just wanted to check up on you after today. How are you feeling?"

"Oh, hey Dean," Sam greeted, walking to the other side of the room so he could talk with Dean a little more openly. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. Feeling great."

"You sure?" Dean sounded un-satisfied.

"Positive," Sam sighed. "I'm okay. I promise."

"Well you had us pretty worried this afternoon," Dean admitted. "Scared me shitless, to be honest."

"Yeah, sorry about that." Sam admitted. "I don't really know what happened. But I'm fine now."

"Okay, well I also wanted to ask you about" –

"Um Dean," Sam interrupted. "I'm going to have to call you back. I'm – uh – kind of in the middle of something."

Dean hesitated, and then laughed. "Oh, I get it. Little quality time. Gotcha."

"Bite me."

"I'm not the one you need to be biting here, Sammy-boy." Dean laughed again.

"Bye Dean." Sam hung up the phone, shaking his head at his brother. _So much for privacy._

Sam looked up to see that Jess had left the room. Making his way into his room slowly, he loosened his tie, almost tripping on the wedding dress that Jess had rented. Looking around, Sam noticed that the room was empty, but the bathroom door was slightly open, the sound of running water coming emitting from behind the door.

Sam collapsed on the bed, closing his eyes and folding his hands behind his head. He hadn't been this tired in a long time outside of a hunt, but it was worth it. As of an hour ago, he was a married man. To Jess. Sam allowed himself a hint of a smile at that thought. He still couldn't believe it. The fact that Jess had wanted to be anywhere near him after what happened with the demon was amazing. Sam was so grateful that everything had turned out the way it had. Jess was beautiful, smart, and she actually loved him despite his past, despite –

_Drip._ Sam felt his head twitch to the side gently. _Drip._ Sam's head jerked to the other side as something hit his forehead again, and he felt his heart skipped a beat in recognition, his eyes opening in shock and a gasp escaping from his lips.

"Why Sam?"


	29. Chapter 29

"Why Sam?" Sam barely heard it, the slow murmur of Jess's lips as Sam's eyes were shooting open, and his voice overpowered hers as he cried out. The image of her there, stuck to the ceiling… Sam would have given anything not to see it. Not again. He had seen it over a hundred times in his dreams, and it had nearly driven him insane. But to live it… Sam just couldn't do it. John might have been able to do it, but Sam wasn't as strong as his father. He couldn't do it.

"No! Jess!" Sam was already half way to his knees when the flames hit, blurring Jess's image before his eyes. Sam thought he could hear Jessica screaming, but the sound of his heart beating against his chest covered it. Despite the heat that threatened to take them both under, Sam reached his hands upwards, trying to find some way to pull her down. Wincing as his arms burned, Sam managed to get his arms under her waist, he pulled, and felt Jess go limp against him suddenly. They fell, and Sam collapsed on the bed, trying to ignore his injuries as his head smashed against the headboard and his broken ribs were winded in the fall. Blinking at the heat and the smoke that was filling the apartment swiftly, Sam pulled them up both up, Jess unconscious in his arms, and staggered to the door, barely able to breathe. His chest felt wet, maybe because his stitches had ripped open or because he was painfully aware of Jess's bleeding stomach. Sam tried to silence his thoughts as he put his shoulder into the door, but it didn't budge. Swearing out loud, Sam looked around. He hadn't shut it behind him… so why was it closed?! Taking a few steps back, Sam aimed a kick at the door that sent it open, but also sent a shock through his entire body with the extra weight and his injuries. Ducking as another blast of flames emitted from who-knows-where, Sam hurried through the door, careful not to bang Jess's head in the doorway as he had but an hour ago accidentally. Getting into the living room, Sam struggled to keep breath in his lungs as fire crawled up the walls everywhere. Making his way to the doorway, Sam kicked it open without a second thought, feeling the tension in his legs as strength drained from his body fast. Jess was still unmoving in his arms. Was she even alive? _Please god,_ Sam sighed, unable to comprehend whether he was praying or babbling, _don't let her be dead._ _Not Jess. Please not Jess…_

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"I got something," John put the police radio closer to his ear, frowning. "Freak fire in a local apparent building. Possible vampire attack."

"Doesn't sound like a vampire attack to me," Dean sighed, but lowered the volume on the impala's stereo anyways. "Fire's happen all the time."

"Yeah, I know. But it's close to where we are." John looked to Dean. "And it's the first lead we've had in almost a week. I want to be there to see what we can dig up."

"Alright," Dean nodded, knowing there was no fighting with his father. "What building did you say it was?"  
"I didn't," John listened for another minute, then looked up to Dean. "It's on twenty-seventh street. 'Abigale Planes,' or something like that…"  
"Abigale Planes…" Dean frowned over the word, and then jumped as the realization hit him. "Isn't that Sam's building?"

John looked to him in horror, and Dean swerved, doing an illegal U-turn.

"You don't think…" Dean muttered, almost to himself. "I mean… it was just a dream, right?!"

John shook his head, frowning. "Well whatever it is, we'd better get over there. Now. We're not loosing Sam to this thing too."

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As he got into the hallway, Sam leaned against a wall to steady himself, and hurried over to the elevator as quickly as he could. Kicking at the door, it gave in to show an empty shaft, and Sam had to throw himself backwards, hitting the wall behind him to prevent them from falling into the dark pit below. _Crap… _ So the elevator wasn't working. What had he expected?! _Damn it Sam, get her out of here._ Hurrying to the other end of the hall, Sam took the stairs three at time, the most his long legs would take without giving out or him dropping Jess. He rounded the corner and took another trip, choking in the smoke that filled into the corridor.

Sam thought he heard people running around, screaming, trying to find the nearest exit. Looks like he wasn't the only one who's apartment room caught fire. Although… it _was_ his fault. _Don't worry about that now Sam, just get her out dammit!_ Sam hurried down the last few steps, tripping, and he swerved around so he would land on his back and wind himself, but Jess wouldn't hit the ground. He gasped for breath, pulling himself upwards, struggling, trying to get air into his lungs. Pulling Jess back into his arms again, Sam forced himself to stand, and to run towards the nearest exit, ignoring the pains in his chest and the throbbing in the back of his head. Throwing his whole weight against the door sideways, it flew open with a loud thud, and Sam pulled himself outside, setting Jessica down on the sidewalk a few yards away. Breathing hard, Sam strove to get clean air back into his lungs as he leaned over her, feeling her neck for a pulse, checking her stomach to try and find out where and _why_ she was bleeding.

Clenching his hands into fists, Sam tried to take deep breaths, steadying himself. He couldn't get a pulse on _anyone_ when he was shaking like this. "Jess…" Sam felt himself quivering, his voice shaking as he turned Jess's limp face towards him. "Common Jess… Tell me you can hear me. It's going to be okay. You're going to get through this… I promise. I'm going to make you better. It's going to be…" Sam wiped his face with his hands, and came back with tears, sweat, and blood. Was it his blood? Looking down, he saw that his arms were covered with burns and cuts, and he could feel the steady trickle of blood flowing down the back of his head from where his head hit the headboard. Ignoring the pain, Sam looked down at Jessica again. "Jess…" Sam knew he was crying, but he didn't care. "Common. Don't… just…"ss

Sam looked up to the window, fire, heat and poisonous gas still building intensity inside. For a flicker of a second, Sam though he saw someone standing in the window, a dark silhouette outlined by flames and glowing yellow eyes. Sam was about to stand up, but the apparition disappeared, just a flicker of his imagination. Blinking to clear his vision, Sam shook himself awake, checking Jess's pulse again. _Stay awake. Got to stay awake..._ Sam felt his head spinning, and he fought against it without prevail. _Don't you pass out Sam. You can do this. Just take care of Jess. It's simple. _

Sam blinked again, putting a hand up to his head to steady himself. It felt like he was having another vision, but no images flickered across his mind this time… None but Jessica stuck to the ceiling at least. _God Sam, don't think about that. Just take care of here till someone comes to help. Why can't you do it?!_ Sam took a deep breath, trying to get more air into his lungs to steady himself. It felt like someone had wrapped their arms around his lungs and was squeezing their hardest.Sam knew it was his broken ribs, but he couldn't think straight to do anything about it. _It's so easy! It's just so…_

The sound of siren's pierced Sam's ears like a drum, and he couldn't help putting his hands on them, even though the fire trucks were still blocks away. _What the hell's wrong with me? What…_

Unable to even form a coherent thought, Sam felt himself swerving. The bitter instinct inside him fought it, telling himself to stay awake, to take care of Jess. Always take care of Jess.

Sam felt himself hit the ground beside Jess, still fighting to stay conscious. Eventually, when the sound of the sirens seemed to fade along with all other sounds, the last thing Sam was aware of before he sank into a void of darkness was the bright lights of the window exploding two stories above him, fire blasting outside into the quiet neighborhood below. By the time a hail of glass hit him, Jess, and the ground, Sam had already lost all consciousness altogether.

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Dean swerved into someone's driveway a few seconds after the fire trucks and ambulances had taken their stations, nearly hitting the minivan parked in front of him. He threw open the Impala door, and John did the same in the passengers side. He looked across and diagonal from him, towards the building that seemed to be emptying itself of fire from the windows as if it was water pouring from holes in a jar, and ran across the street towards it. There were people running everywhere, firemen, ambulance-workers and people in their everyday clothes. Dean wondered how many people had to evacuate the building because of this fire, and felt worry build up within him. But if everyone left, then were was Sam? Was he still in the building? Was he okay?

As three firemen unrolled fire-hoses in front of him, Dean almost tripped, jumping out of the way as he felt himself getting really worried. He made his way towards the source of the fire with building intensity, trying to fight his way through the crowd that was heading away from him in a panic. Over the shoulder of a man, Dean caught a glimpse of a man in a bloody tux-jacket on the ground, beside a woman with wavy blonde hair in an equally-bloody (if not more so) white slip. They were both being attended to by ambulance-workers, who were fitting them into stretchers. When a particularly tall man moved out of the way, Dean caught a glimpse of the man's face.

"Sam!" On the other side of the chaos, John's voice rang out, and Dean could see him running forwards just as Dean himself jumped the fire-equipment to get to his brother.

"Hey man, get away from the building." A fireman grabbed Dean's arm, stopping him. "Please just head safely back to the" –

"Get off me!" Dean pulled away, but the man kept his grip. "That's my brother over there. I" –

"Look, everything's under control," a police officer hurried across the lawn when he saw the commotion, pushing Dean back gently. "You can help your brother by staying out of our way."

Dean was about to shoot back a retort, but stopped as he saw Sam and Jessica being carried away. Jessica looked horrible. If Dean's thoughts were correct, and she had suffered the same fate that killed his mother, than she was lucky to even be alive. But still… Dean noticed too much blood and burns on Jess to be at all comforting. Sam didn't look much better.

"If you go to the hospital, they will tell you when anything happens," the police officer assured Dean, nodding gravely.

Dean didn't do anything nod back, a bit dazed, and make his way to the Impala. A few minutes later, John joined him. Leaning against the car, they watched flames devour the building, and after a while Dean dared a look at his father, tears in the man's eyes. Dean didn't even have to ask. It was all to familiar. First mom, now Jess, and this time Sam was taken along for the ride. Feeling his revenge-hungry Winchester instinct claw it's way into the surface of Dean's mind, he felt himself tensing at the thought of that thing, whatever it was, harming his family yet again. And one thought, one solitary thought, made it's way into his head. _Why? _Why would this thing pin Marry to the ceiling and burn her alive? Why would it try and do that to Jessica? Heck, neither of them were hunters! The closest thing either of those women ever came to a paranormal event was the lunar eclipse. _Well…_ Dean hesitated, _other than the possession that is, but Jess doesn't even remember that. Why do these things keep harming them? _

John, as if sensing Dean's questions turned around towards the passenger's side, and dropped himself in the seat after tiredly opening the car door. For a moment, Dean waited, almost as if the answers to his questions would fall out of the sky and land at his feet. He would give anything to know why, to find out what was harming the people his family loved. He would give anything to look it in the eyes and say "That was for my mom," before killing it once and for all. And Dean wasn't ignorant. He knew that John and Sam both wanted that same goal. They all wanted that same revenge, and Dean knew they wanted it more than anything. That was what made them Winchesters.


	30. Chapter 30

"…I must reinforce again how lucky you two are that they survived," The doctor mentioned for the umpteenth time, his hand on the doorknob to the hospital room. "With such circumstances such as these, with Sam's previous injuries, the extent of both their burns, and all the poisonous gasses, it's a medical marvel to see both of them alive at all."

Dean shuffled his feet uncomfortably, impatiently waiting to see Sam, but still inwardly dreading the moment he would have to do so.

The doctor must have noticed his hesitancy, and that of John beside him, because he sighed. "I'm not trying to discourage you," he admitted. "I'm just trying to state the facts before you get you're hopes up."

"Doctor," John interjected, his face grim. "We understand. Believe me, we understand. Please, can I just see my son?"

"Of course." The doctor nodded, turning the knob and leading them inside.

Dean felt his stomach churning and his throat tighten when he saw the sight before him. Sam, as usual, was the center of Dean's attention first. There were a few purple bruises on his left shoulder, and his face had a long narrow burn that was about a half-inch wide and three long across his cheek. Dean's eyes moved to Sam's arms, which held quite a few nasty third-degree burns. _Looks like we know how he got her down…_ Other than those wounds, and those obtained when Jessica was possessed, Dean couldn't see much else wrong with Sam.

Suddenly aware of John's sleeve brushing his arm as he stood beside to look at Sam, Dean felt rather than saw the emotion flooding from the man. It was just too familiar for him, for both of them.

The doctor stepped forwards, as if he had to give them a moment before speaking, although Dean knew it had only been a few seconds since he stepped through the door. "So far," he began, looking over Sam. "We aren't very worried about the burns. Those will heal, and even if they scar, there won't be any permanent damage. The cuts and bruises are even less of a concern." He moved to the side of the bed, and drew an invisible line over Sam's temple with two fingers. "The brain contusions are what we are worried about. With" –

"They said that last time…"Dean cut off, trying to keep his voice calm.

The doctor nodded, frowning. "Honestly I'm not sure why they let Sam leave so early. I know he would seem fit to leave, but injuries such as these take a while to heal. We think he suffered a few more head injuries that _worsened_ the contusions." He drew another invisible line over Sam's temple. "Here," And drew another line by the back of Sam's head. "And here."

"So…"John cleared his throat, almost afraid to continue. " When will he wake up?"

The doctor hesitated. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "We can't be completely sure about his condition until he wakes up."

"They said that last time too…"Dean's voice was quiet.

"I'm sorry." The doctor's face was solemn. "I know this must be a lot to handle…"

"What…"John gave a quick, fearful glance behind him. " What about Jessica?"

Together, almost as one motion, they turned around to the next bed, where Jessica was lying. Somehow the sight of her drew a worse reaction from Dean than seeing Sam, for many mixed reasons. First off, Dean realized painfully, she looked so damned like mom! The wavy blonde hair, the slim face and lean build, she was a lot like Mary. _Like father, like son._ Dean threw John a glace beside him, who appeared to be having the same reaction as he. Dean knew that inside, his father was reliving Mary's death in his head, over and over, putting the pieces together. _Now Sam has to live with this too?_

Looking over Jessica, Dean noticed that her burns were worse than Sam's, but some part of his brain trying to block out the reason why, making himself think it was a coincidence not relatively related to the fact that she was burned alive on the ceiling. He felt his throat tighten even more…

"Jessica, as you can see," the doctor gestured to a few dark burns on Jessica's face and arms that rivaled all of Sam's put together. "Is in a bit of a worse state. Definite third-injury burns, and a bruises up and down her back and head."

Dean and John nodded, contemplating the horrible truth to what they were hearing. It would have been so much easier if they didn't know what really happened…

"And if that wasn't bad enough…" the doctor continued, pulling down the covers to Jessica's waist and pulling the T-shirt top just past her bellybutton, revealing a long and deep cut going across her stomach. " This one stumped me."

Dean's eyes widened now, even more horrified with the whole ideal. "Holy…"He tried not to imagine how any of this would have felt for Jess or his mom…

Beside Dean, John was deathly quiet. Dean figured that seeing this twice already was not good on the man, especially seeing the connection between the victims and their witnesses.

"That was my reaction too," The doctor replied to Dean sadly. "Now, I want you to understand that my job is not to show off injuries, but I do need to express my concern. This," he moved his finger in an invisible line over the cut, just as he had done with Sam. "This is not caused by falling, being hit with anything, or any other fire-related injury that I've ever heard of." He paused for a moment, regarding John and Dean seriously. "This cut is even too precise to have been from a stabbing. _This_ right here is surgical. It looks like it could have even been a scalpel that did it."

Dean closed his eyes for a second, trying to drown out what he was hearing. He didn't want the mental pictures in his head of whatever had been done to them… he couldn't handle this.

"I was vaguely informed that Sam's previous injuries were from an apartment break-in," the doctor gave Sam behind him another glance. "First a beating and now a fire in the same apartment, that is enough alone to suggest foul play. But this right here," He gestured to Jessica's stomach again. "This is attempted murder. This is enough for me to vouch that this fire was not an accident," he said slowly. " And it gives me enough to think that Sam surviving the first time alone was just good luck. I suggest you two talk to the police again, as I already know they are waiting to do. This is too conspicuous to be ignored."

John nodded slowly, frowning. "Yeah… We'll do that. I don't want anything else to get hurt…" he hesitated. "We will talk to them," He finished, not wanting to say much else.

"We will." Dean could barely get his lips to form the words, his eyes drifting from Sam to Jessica, unsure who scarred him more.

The doctor shook his head, frowning down at the couple. "It's such shame too, ruining such a good day for them."

John turned to face the man, confused. "And what day would that be?"

With a surprised, slightly amused look, the doctor huffed. Gently, without disrupting the IV in Sam's left arm, he turned it enough to reveal the wedding ring on his third finger. "I thought you would have known."

"They were engaged," Dean explained, but the doctor shook his head.

"Police are already contacting witnesses," he said looking at Dean. "They interviewed a man who claims to have married them last night. Did the complete service for them. Had the papers and everything."

"Wow," Dean dug up some sarcasm to disguise his confusion. "Are you a doctor or a policeman?"

"I just need to know what happened to my patients," the doctor offered. "If you don't believe me, I have proof." He pulled photograph from a shelf, incased in a plastic bag. "The police said they didn't need this as evidence." He handed it to Dean, who took it gently, pulling the picture from the bag and examining it closely.

There was no doubt what the picture was. Jess had the white dress, Sam had the black tux, both of them locked in a kiss without realizing they were being photographed. They were getting married. It would have been a romantic picture considering the circumstances of what happened to them afterwards that night. Dean still put it in the inside pocket of his jacket, incase Sam wanted it later.

The doctor gave each Winchester a look, before clearing his throat. "I'll leave you be." He made his way slowly to the door. "If you need me, just ask at the front office." He closed the door behind him, leaving Dean and John alone to their worries.

"Ah Sam," Dean sighed aloud, both to the room and to Sam himself. "What have we gotten into this time?"

John shook his head sadly, pulling up a chair beside the two beds. Dean sat down beside him, equally solemn. Frowning over the burns on Sam's arms, he paused. "What a simple thing to do… Just pull her off the ceiling. I never" –

"Dad…"Dean cut in, his voice quiet. " Don't do this. Don't beat yourself up over this. There was nothing you could have done."

"Sam did it." John's voice was barely audible, but Dean managed to catch it.

"Sam didn't have to carry two kids out of the house," Dean answered softly, slightly taken aback at his father's sudden show of emotions. "He was standing on a bed, so he could reach her. And he was a hunter, so he already knew what would happen…"Dean let himself drift off. "It wasn't your fault. Neither time. It was the fault of the thing that did this, and nothing else. We can still kill it dad, all three of us. We haven't lost Sam. He's tough, he'll… he'll make it."

"Jess too," John nodded, giving the comatose girl beside them a brief look. It wasn't a question. It was a statement. "She's family now."

"Yeah," Dean agreed with a bitter smile, forcing back tears. "Jess too."

John huffed, and Dean was reminded of Sam.

"What?"

John didn't say anything. He had gone back into military mode.

"…Dad?"

"It's just… It's been more than twenty years, and I'm no closer to killing the bastard that did this to our family… I promised I would take care of you boys."

"And you _have_ taken care of us, dad."

"Yeah, looks like." John creased his brow, looking away from his son.

"We are looking for this thing _together_. This isn't any more your fault than ours. Don't make this your burden alone dad."

John nodded, looking down, and Dean knew that he hadn't helped much. He had tried, but he was feeling the same thing as his father, anyhow. What was the point? There was no sense discussing the truth of what happened, because they already knew. What happened to mom, what happened to Jess, was not a mystery. The mystery was how to stop it.

_Sam…_


	31. Chapter 31

Sam woke up on the hard floor, drenched in a cold sweat. Breathing heavily, he sat up, confused. He was in his own apartment. _But how…_ He pulled himself off the cold kitchen tiles, looking around him. It was dark and empty, not a sound in the place. Not only that, but it was fine. There were no traces that there had been a fire here, ever. The wall dents from the demon attack were even gone. "He-hello?" Sam called out, but no one answered. Looking down, he saw that he was in his normal clothes. Jeans, undershirt, long-sleeve shirt, jacket. Typical Winchester layers. Reaching to the back of his waistband, Sam swore inwardly when there was no gun there, although somehow, he wasn't that surprised. He moved his tongue around in his mouth, a weird taste and smell in the air. It was almost like…

Sam's feet felt rooted to the ground, but he managed to pull them free, walking to the bedroom door. After a slight hesitation, he swallowed his fear and pushed the door open, taking a step back as he did so just incase someone – or something – was there on the other side. The doorway was empty. Sam trudged forwards, looking around him for some clues to whatever the heck was happening to him. He looked upwards, almost fearfully, but there was nothing there. No one was on the ceiling. Sam turned around, looking around him, and walked back towards the door when he saw a flash of movement on the other side. Throwing the door open, Sam was shown a completely different scene than the one that had been there before. He was still in his apartment, but after the fire. Scorch marks burned what was left of the walls, and the kitchen and living room area was unrecognizable.

"Why Sam?"

His breath caught in his throat when he heard the sound. _No…_ Sam clenched his eyes shut, trying to turn around but afraid to. _I'm dreaming… This is a dream Sam. Snap out of it! Wake up!_ Turning around slowly, Sam saw her there, helplessly stuck to the ceiling, and he couldn't help but sink to his knees. "Jess…"Sam bit his trembling lip, bowing his head so he wouldn't have to look up at her there, so scared. " I'm… I'm sorry. I never wanted… I…"_Sam, this is a dream. Wake up, dammit! None of this is real! _Still, when Sam looked up at Jess, terror written across her face, Sam couldn't believe it. "…I'm so sorry Jess…"Sam bent over until he was almost in a ball, rolling back and fourth, head in hands. After a while, he looked up, realizing that something had changed. He wasn't in his apartment anymore; he was sitting in a chair, leaning against something. _It's a hospital…_ Sam looked around him, then down to his arms, which were folded in front of him against the side of Jess's hospital bed. She looked so… Sam caught himself again, sniffing. God, she looked horrible. Was this how she really was, right now? _No Sam, this is a dream. It's not real. You're in a coma or something, dreaming. Just snap out of it and wake up!_

Looking above Jess, Sam's eyes wandered to the bed beside her, where _Sam_ was lying looking almost as bad as Jess. Sitting beside the unconscious Sam, almost in the same fashion as the waking Sam, was John.

"Dad?" Sam's voice was quiet. "Can… Can you hear me?"

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"Sam…"John cleared his throat, frowning down at his son, who was just as unresponsive as he had been since John first saw him an hour ago. He was alone now. Dean had gone out for some air, and John didn't blame him. But there were some things he wanted to get off his chest first. "Sam I wish I could be talking to you face to face right now… Well I guess were face to face, but you being unconscious and all doesn't really make this easy or anything… I just… I wanted to say how sorry I am that this had to happen Sam. I never… I never wanted any of this. I just wanted to kill the son of a bitch. I wanted to keep you safe. I never thought any of this would happen…"

Sam laid his head back on his folded arms, clenching his jaw. His father couldn't hear him. Not only that, but John seemed to be in the middle of some sort of confessional moment. Sam looked up to Jess for a bittersweet second. No matter where Sam was, he figured, he would still be able to hear anyone talking to his comatose self. That was how coma's worked, wasn't it? _Dammit Sam, you're not in a comma. You're just dreaming. This is just one big, ugly dream. You're going to wake up, Jess is going to ask what's wrong, and then I'm going to drive her to her doctor's appointment tomorrow. After that, your going to call up John and Dean and get them to forgive you for not talking to them for two years. None of this is real… It's not Sam!_

"When you told me about your nightmare Sam, I was… Well I was freaked, I admit." John continued on, unaware that Sam was breaking down behind him. "I never wanted to tell you this, but I've always known there was something special about you. I never took it to this extreme, but when you told me about that dream of yours… I just didn't want to admit it, or accept it even. I couldn't accept the fact that the thing that killed your mother might not be done with us Sam… I wish I had listened. I wish there had been something I could have done…"

"Dad, you didn't know..."Sam wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, embarrassed with himself although there wasn't a soul to see him cry or hear what he was saying. But he couldn't stand this. He couldn't be hearing this, not with Jess's comatose body in front of him and himself in the bed beside her. He couldn't even reply. John couldn't hear a word he said!

"What I went through when your mother died," Sam heard his father continue, and he laid his head back on the soft bed, trying to shut everything out. "I almost died Sam. I would have given almost anything to protect you from that. Even when you told me about your nightmare, I could see it in your eyes that something was wrong. I just didn't want to believe that it could happen, and now…"John forced back a sob, breaking Sam's heart even more. "Now I let this happen again, and I'm sorry. I want you to know Sam… That Jess is alive. You saved her. Whatever you did that I couldn't do, dammit it worked. But she is in really bad shape Sam… and so are you. We're d-doing everything we can, for both of you. Money, doctors, everything. Don't worry about anything Sam. Just… Just hold in there, okay? I promise I'm going to take care of you Sam. You're my boy. I'm not going to let anything happen to you again. You just gota hold on, okay? Just…"

Sam bit his lip, trying to gain control of himself. If he would have looked up, he would have seen that he and his father were striking the same pose, bent over the bed and stuck in dismay over their loved ones. "I…"John continued, and Sam both hung on to every word and tried not to hear it at the same time. " I'm so sorry Sam… God kid, I'm so sorry…"

Sam walked through the empty corridors of the hospital, completely alone. There were people in the hallways, people who walked and talked and went about their days, not even aware that he was there. Sam tried to avoid running into them, although once in a while his arm or foot would pass right through someone, and he would jump back, completely freaked. He wasn't a ghost. Sam repelled at the thought. He couldn't be a ghost! _I'm not dead… Dad said that I was alive. I'm just in bad shape, that's all. I'm having an out-of-body experience or something._

When Sam got downstairs to the front office, he looked up to the main sign listing the rooms. _Waiting Room: Main Floor_… Sam looked around, making his way around a corner until he got to the main waiting room, and he stopped in the doorway to look everybody in the face. _Man with the blue hair… Woman with the dog… Creepy kid… Hooker… Old couple… _ Sam frowned, disappointed. No Dean or John. Sam was in the middle of turning around to go the other way when a dark shape passed right through him, walking into the room. Instinct taking over, Sam's arms came up, swatting at the thing, and he fell back against the wall behind him, his hands moving to his stomach subconsciously as to find out why the thing didn't hurt him when it passed through. As Sam's heartbeat slowed, he noticed who had walked into the room. "Dean!" Sam hurried forwards, making tons of noise, circling in front of his brother to get his attention. "Man, tell me you aren't playing deaf like dad! Dean!"

Dean didn't show in any way that he had seen or heard Sam, but gave the room a once-over, sighing deeply. Sam noticed dark circles under his eyes. He probably hadn't slept since the fire.

"Dean!" Sam waved his hands in front of his fathers face like a fool, jumping up and down. He even tried to tap Dean on the shoulders, chest and head, but Sam's hands just passed right through.

"Don't bother. He can't hear you."

Sam jumped around when he heard the voice, hands held out in front of him in preparation of attack, but none came. A man had appeared, out of nowhere it seemed, and was staring down at him with interest. Not that he was staring _down _at Sam – it was hard to find anyone Sam's height, let alone taller – but the way the man held himself, he could have been eight feet tall. In truth, the man's body was not opposing at all. He was a man of forty or fifty, medium height and build, grey-brown hair, with a worn-out black jacket and jeans. He looked like he could have been anybody, anybody at all. Than why was Sam afraid? "Who are you?" Sam let his hands fall to his sides, knowing that it was both useless and a bad idea to be holding up his fists right now.

The man watched the room with bored eyes, not even looking at Sam. It somehow showed that he wasn't afraid at all. Maybe he was even enjoying himself. _No…_ Sam tried to convince himself. _He can't see me. He must have been talking to someone else…_ Sam was still not convinced. "Who are you?" He repeated, louder this time.

The man looked back to Sam, their eyes meeting directly. Sam's stomach churned with fear when he realized what colour they were. The man's eyes were golden yellow, glowing and speckled like those of a cats, but with regular pupils in shape. "Sam…"The man cocked his head to one side, like a predator watching its prey, and smiled. " It's been a long time. You grew up handsome. Tall too. I figured you would be tall."

Sam hesitated, unsure what to say. He was expecting something more on the likes of "You're worst nightmare," or "You don't want to know kid." The least thing he was expecting was small talk. Still… the man wasn't being nice, Sam could tell by the tone of his voice. He was testing Sam somehow. "How would you know?"

"You know," The demon gave Dean a look, as if testing how Sam would react. "I never met your brother. He looks just like your dad. You though, you have so much of your mother in you."

"What do you know about my mother?" Sam felt himself tense up, but tried not to show it.

"Enough." The man turned to look at Sam, cocking his head to one side again. "Why Sam, don't you remember me?"

Sam hesitated. What kind of question was that? "Should I?"

The man shrugged, his yellow eyes flaring. "I'd hoped. That would have made introductions _so_ much easier."

"It would have," Sam agreed coldly. "Now since you seem to know so much about me, why don't you go first."

The man's freaky-glowing eyes circled the room, as if he had never seen a hospital before. But Sam knew he wasn't that ignorant. "I am called many things," He said slowly, reminding Sam of a character from an adult version of Alice and Wonderland where no one would live. "You will come up with some name or other. Whatever is most insulting maybe, or maybe something I haven't heard before? I highly doubt that though."

"Fine then yellow-eyes," Sam sighed, pretending to be impatient when he was really afraid. "Riddles aren't really my game, so what do you _want_?"

The demon hesitated, as if he was contemplating a secret. "I just wanted to congratulate you."

"For what?"

"For passing my test," The demon smiled.

"Wh-What test?" Sam tried to keep his voice calm, although he didn't really want to know.

He began pacing, almost in a circle, and although Sam was in a crowded room he felt completely alone. "Well I guess I should say _tests_. You have managed to save Jessica what… twice now? High-shooter we have here. I must say, you're daddy has trained you well."

"Leave them out of this!" Sam glared at the yellow-eyed man, turning his head to look straight at him. "This isn't about them!"

Yellow-eyes laughed, which did nothing for Sam's esteem. "Anger. We can use that. I always find anger such a wonderful tool to harness. Makes people into what they really are."

"And what is that?"

"Whatever they want to be," the demon shrugged, circling around until he was behind Sam again. "Or whatever _I_ want them to be. Most times there isn't a difference."

"And what the hell is that supposed to" – Sam turned around to confront the man, but he was gone. Sam was completely alone again. Looking around, he saw that the room had changed. There were different people in the waiting room, and Dean had left. How long had that conversation taken? It only seemed like a few minutes… _But then again,_ Sam thought to himself soberly, getting himself out of the room as fast as he could, _stranger things have happened to me. And if this man is anything like he seems, I don't even know the half of it. But I'm going to find out._


	32. Chapter 32

John adjusted the zipper on his jacket for the fifth time, mindlessly fidgeting as he set the final object in the box, his ID on top. With a sigh, he closed the lid, burying the box in the dead center, just like many before him had. It wouldn't be long before the thing came… he just had to wait. With slow carefulness, he stood up, sealing his fate. He knew it was pointless to be negative, but he doubted his chances. It was unlikely that he would make it out this time. The famous John Winchester would not live to die another day. Not if the demon came. But Sam would live. And so would Dean. Jess too… She would survive when Marry hadn't. That was the plan… Right now, at the scene where he would die, he was bringing his sons one step closer to killing the demon that killed her.

It hadn't been hard, sneaking into the crime scene. It hadn't been hard finding clues either, searching for anything that could tell him what had killed his wife, harmed his son and Jessica. The hard part was keeping a cool head. It was all too familiar. The burned walls, the ceiling… god, the ceiling. John felt chills go up and down his spine just picturing what he had seen twenty-two years ago, what his son had to relive but days ago. But once he got control of himself, using the methods he had learned in the corps and hunting, he had found it. Sulphur. It was a demon that did the deed. _The _demon.

That had been but three hours ago, and now John was here, at the crossroads a few miles from Palo Alto. It would have been easier to do this in a warehouse, with a summoning ritual, but he wanted the personal touch. Still… the effect would be the same. Besides, the further from the hospital he got, he knew he would get cold feet. John wanted to say goodbye to Sam, to explain why he had to do what he had planned, and to apologize for making him suffer the same fate that he did. He wanted to tell Dean that he loved him, and that he was proud of him taking care of Sam for so long. He missed his boys. But this was his last stand. This had been his battle, then the whole family's. Now it was just Sam and Deans. Not his… not after tonight…

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"Rock and roll 'aint noise pollution!" Dean turned the music up, singing louder to the music. He needed to cloud his mind, to pretend that he wasn't thinking what he was thinking. He had to do it. For Sammy. It would be easy, quick, to do it. And he would get ten long years afterwards. There would be no regrets, not after he would watch Sammy raise a family with his beautiful new wife, not after he could help dad kill the thing that killed mom… There would be no regrets. None.

The AC/DC blared loud enough to pop Dean's eardrums, but he barely heard it. His mind swirled with hesitancy, with doubts, with alcohol. He had never drove drunk before, but he only had to get to the crossroads. Once he was there, the Impala didn't matter. Hell, the demon could take the effing thing to Mexico if it wanted! As long as he got Sam back… that was all that mattered. _I just got you back Sammy… Two years without you and now you're dying. I can't just let you die. I'm supposed to take care of you._

When the crossroads came into view, Dean slammed on the brakes, the Impala skidding and throwing up dust and rocks as it came to a violent stop. He turned off the ignition, the deafening music coming to a stop. Suddenly aware of the sound of crickets, Dean threw open the door, rounding the back to the trunk where he found what he would need. Throwing it all in the little brown box he had found, he made his way slowly to the dead centre. But it wasn't slow enough…

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_The man stood slowly, cautiously, after burying the box. He looked around, waiting for the one who would come. And why wouldn't they? After all, he had summoned the thing._

"_Well look who it is…"A dark haired woman in a black dress shook her head with a smile. She had appeared out of nowhere. "A bon-fied Winchester. Do my eyes deceive me?"_

" _No they don't." He hesitated, trying to summon up the guts to speak. "You know why I'm here."_

"_You want to make a deal, am I right?" The woman took a step closer, and the man one step back. "And the price?"_

"_My soul."_

"_Why that's a mighty fine offer for someone like you."_

"_Don't play games. That is what you take from everyone who makes a deal."_

"_And what would you be trading it for? To be the worlds best hunter?"_

_He hated how she laughed. Why was she laughing? This wasn't funny… none of it was. He just had to get in, get out, get the deal made. End of story. "I want you to save them. _Both_of them."_

_The woman laughed. "From what? Where there's life there's hope."_

"_We both know that time is running out. Now do we have a deal or not?"_

"_I don't know… _Two_lives has never been" –_

"_Like you said, it's_me_." He let a fake smirk dawn his face, as it might help to convince her how much of a catch he really was. He could make this deal… he had too. " I know I'm worth something to the man downstairs. Now I'm sure you can make an exception."_

"_Than_you_will have to follow suit." The woman made another move on him, but he didn't back up._

_What is that supposed to mean? Half? "Five years."_

_The woman laughed._

"_One."_

"_You insult me."_

"_I can't _go_ any lower," he answered in frustration, throwing up his hands. _

"_Well then I guess our discussion is over." The woman went to leave, but the man held out an arm to stop her._

"_What do I have to do?"_

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**Yeah I know this is short, but hopefully it's a good cliffhanger! Hopefully you noticed that this part in italics was the insert from Sam's vision, with few changes. Who is making the deal? What will happen to our famous Winchester boys? And John? Jessica? ** **Please read to find out!**

**Please tell me what you think, as I am drawing this story to a close soon and your time is running out! (Evil laughing) Reviews are like candy! I really want them!**


	33. Chapter 33

**Sorry about the wait everyone! I kind of had a family emergency in the last couple of weeks, and then final exams came up... Yeah studying sucks. But anyhow, I hope you didn't suffer too much waiting, or get bored waiting. Here is the new chapter!**

**BTW, this story is coming to a close soon, and if you plan on reviewing, this is a good time to do so!**

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"Where are you?!" Sam ran through another room, another endless corridor, another passage of immeasurable time in his own personal hell. He was looking for it, the thing that had come to him. He didn't know how he knew, or how long it had taken the thoughts in his head to form, but he knew that it was the thing that killed his mother. The thing that tried to kill Jessica. There was no way – at least not yet – to know what it was, or how to kill it. He would kill it if it was the last thing he did. For Jess. For Mary.

_"Anger. We can use that. I always find anger such a wonderful tool to harness. Makes people into what they really are."_

_"And what is that?" _

_"Whatever they want to be…Or whatever I want them to be. Most times there isn't a difference."_

Sam contemplated the yellow-eyed-man's words, wondering what he meant. _Makes people into what they really are… Or whatever I want them to be._ Had be been implying something? Was he going to try and turn Sam into something he didn't want to be? And why?

"Answer me!" Sam looked into another hallway, another place to run where his imagination and memories mingled with reality like he was on an acid trip. It was hard to tell what was real anymore and what was just a dream. If he was in a comma, why was he aware of the hospital? Was this all a dream? Was this all real?

"Howdy sport," a voice echoed behind Sam, and he spun around to see the yellow-eyed-man leaning against the doorframe behind him. "You called?"

Sam took a few angry deep breaths in, indignant and trying to calm himself down from running around for so long. He wondered how, if he was really in a hospital bed somewhere, he could feel so tired.

"Yeah, I did…"Sam stood taller than he had been before, squaring his chest to try and measure up to the amount of fear and nothingness the man drew from him without doing anything. He tried not to flinch at the yellow eyes. "You left before I was done. I want to know why."

"Why I left?" The man observed him with bored curiosity, like watching an insect. "Is that all" –

"Why you did it." Sam glared back at the man, for once taking comfort in how tall he was. It at least gave him the illusion of being stronger.

The man hesitated, raising an eyebrow. "Did what?"

"Killed my mom, attacked Jessica. What the hell do you think?"

The demon didn't seem rattled by Sam's knowledge, but merely laughed. "Now Sam, what would make you think that?" It wasn't a question why, but how. How did Sam know?

"I saw you," Sam felt himself say even before he fully understood it. He had seen the man in his window, before he passed out. A man with yellow eyes. "I saw you in my apartment during the fire. You… You were the one who – who" –

"Got something to say sport?" The man took a few steps towards Sam, and he had to restrain himself from backing up.

"When I wake up…"Sam clenched his fists, trying to control himself. " I swear I'm going to kill you."

Much to Sam's surprise, the man smiled. "Good. I wondered when you would finally get the guts to threaten me. It mean's your stronger now. My tests worked, didn't' they?"

"What the hell are your _tests_ for anyways? What do you even want with me?"

"I want you doing exactly what you are doing Sam," The demon took another step towards Sam, smiling with amusement at the fear in Sam's eyes. "Using those skills of yours, getting better on the road. Keep hunting for me even. You're talent needs to be harnessed."

"But… But why?"

"That," the demon smiled even bigger, raising a finger. "I will keep to myself."

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John stood for a moment in shock, watching the woman in black approach him slowly. He hesitated. "What do I have to do?"

The woman pursed her lips and began to circle around him, testing the water. "I think you know the answer to that, John."

"No… No I don't. Tell me what I have to do."

The woman raised her eyes to him, turning red. "I can't bring them both back John, that is not how the deal works. You have to choose who you want to save. Your baby boy, or his sweet innocent little wife." She smiled in fake sweetness, indulging in John's pain. "You wish every day that you could have saved Mary. She's all you think about. Her and your boys. But you can save one of them John. You can bring one person back." She paused for dramatic effect, sensing John's weakness. "Marry too. I can bring anyone back from the grave John, you know that. You can be in love again. Mary, John and Dean. A cute little postcard family like you were before. You can save her John. Or… You could save Sam. The three Winchester men on the road once again. You don't have to watch another family member die on you're hands."

"I…"John's breath caught in his throat in confusion. He had never expected Mary to be brought into this. That was never part of the plan. And he could only bring one person back. His wife, his son, or his innocent daughter in law. Jess, Sam or Mary. Sam or Mary. Mary. Sam. Mary had died on his watch, and Sam was going to because he didn't clean up his mess. _What do I do?_

"Any day John," the demon smiled sickly. "I'm waiting."

"Okay…"John gulped before nodding. "I've decided."

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Dean let the woman's arm go, and it fell to her side gracefully as she frowned at him. "What?"

"What do I have to do?"

"Oh Dean," She shook her head mockingly. "You know not to ask that of a woman like me."

"Don't flatter yourself bitch," Dean felt himself tense up as the woman approached him, but he didn't step back. "I don't swing in the way of demons. Women have to be human for my tastes."

The woman raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement of the burn, but she didn't seem offended. On the contrary, she seemed entertained. "Well, well, well. Dean Winchester being picky? I've never heard of that before."

"Well believe it babe," Dean shot back, still glaring. "Now let's get this over with before I change my mind. You wouldn't want that very much, now would you?"

"So let me get this straight. You want me to bring back Sam _and_ Jessica. Both of them."

"That's the plan."

"And you are going to pay one soul for this bargain?" Her voice was dark, clearly unimpressed with this plan.

"What is there an echo in here? That is what I'm asking!"

The woman looked up to Dean, nodding slightly in thought. "Okay," she took a step towards Dean, laying a hand on his chest. "So here's what we're going to do…"

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"Just… just tell me what you want!" Sam walked forwards angrily, feeling himself loosing his tempter and unable to stop it. "Why are you even talking to me if you aren't going to answer anything I ask you?"

The man observed him for a moment, his yellow eyes gleaming. "Because I'm interested in you Sam."

Caught off guard, Sam hesitated. "What?"

"You are different Sam. We both know that. And seeing you on the road using your gifts the way you do best is the safest thing for everyone." The demon's voice held a tone of warning, and Sam recognized the threat. "Especially your family…"He let his voice trail off with the threat.

"Leave them alone!" Sam went to take a few steps forward, but stopped when he couldn't move.

"I will…"The yellow-eyed man raised an eyebrow implicatively. " If you make me a little deal."

"I…"Sam hesitated, knowing that any deal made never ended well. Hadn't he read somewhere in one of Bobby's books about the cost of a deal? "W-What?"

The man took a few steps towards Sam, who couldn't step back because his feet were still glued to the floor. "It's simple. You are going to forget about being Joe College. That was never you Sam, don't lie to yourself. You are never going to get your picket fence. Instead, you are going back to hunting" –

"Then I'll hunt _you_," Sam interrupted, feeling his temper rise again.

The man smiled, shrugging. "The cost of training my soldier for free then. Sam, you have potential for greatness. All I want is you out there owning what you can do. And…" he hesitated, raising a finger in warning. "I want you keeping this discussion of ours a secret. From Dean, from John, and even from Jess. You can't tell anyone." He seemed to wait for Sam to object, but when Sam merely frowned in waiting, his smile widened. You are going to meet others like you Sam, others who can do extraordinary things. They are not your friends. And if you want to protect yourself and your family from them you might want to find a way to become stronger than them."

Sam looked into the yellow eyes angrily. "Stronger _how_?"

If Sam didn't know better, he would have sworn that the eyes flickered. "You will see. There wont be any secrets before long Sam, not between you and me."

"And why would I want to go along with this deal?"

The man sighed, as if considering something as objective as an outfit for work. "Well… there is always the fact that you and your new wife are dying. That is always a big factor. And then there is the part about that demon you sent to hell, and good job with that by the way. But unlike me, he wasn't very convinced. He was rather, well, upset. And he's back. And getting revenge on _you_ isn't an option since you are going to die, so I guess the next best thing is … well…" he smiled again. "I think you get the picture."

Sam felt his jaw tighten as the man's words hit home. He knew they were true, that the man wasn't lying to him. A part of him knew that he was close to death, although hearing it wasn't comforting. And Jess was dying too. Jessica Moore, the love of his life, was going to die. And so were Dean and his dad if he didn't stop it. Slowly, lifting his eyes to the man, he cleared his throat before raising his head. "Okay… what do I have to do?"

The man's eyes gleamed, and Sam felt a pang of fear crawl down his spine. "That's a boy."

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**Who made the deal, and who for? YOU WILL JUST HAVE TO WAIT AND SEE!**

**Btw, the review button is just below this text. Trust me, it makes chapters come a lot sooner!**


	34. Chapter 34

"Now…" the woman raised an eyebrow at Dean menacingly. " I think we have an agreement. Time for payment."

Dean gulped as the woman took another step closer to him, and he almost backed up in fear. _No_, he thought to himself,_ I can do this. For Sammy. Gotta take care of Sammy._

The woman laid a hand on Dean's shoulder, and he had to keep himself from tensing. "Just one more thing," Dean cut her off, putting a hand out to stop her.

"What now?" The woman glared up at him.

"I want to see that Sam and Jessica are okay, with my own eyes."

The woman smiled. "That can be done." She moved in for the kill.

Dean leaned in too, ready to sell his soul, but suddenly the woman went limp against him, falling against his chest. "What the" – Dean grabbed her shoulders in confusion, but then the woman's head snapped back and black smoke emitted from her open mouth into the sky above. The body fell to the ground, now empty of the demon and Dean took a few steps back. What had just happened?

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"Any day now John-boy?" The demon crossed her arms impatiently, startling John back to his current predicament. She was still waiting for his answer. Who was he going to save? Sam, Jess, Marry… Oh this wasn't fair. No matter how big the sacrifice – and this was… well it was pretty big – it could never be enough. John could never save all of them. His wife had been dead for twenty-two years, and he could see her smile again. He could have his wife back, for good. She could live the life she was meant for. Or, he could restore another young innocent person to their health, another woman just like Mary whose life had been cut short by the evil of the world. The woman his son had fallen in love with and tragically lost. Or he could save Sam. His son. His flesh and blood son, who had been one half of the only thing keeping him alive for all these years. Sam and Dean were his life. Mary was his wife. And he had to choose.

John frowned, clenching his jaw with the intensity of his thoughts. What would Mary want him to do? She had lived a longer life than Sam or Jess, had a house and a husband and two beautiful children. Sam had had a life of hunting, and a short one at that. Mary would want him to save Sam. She had loved Sam too, just as much as John did. It was John's job to take care of his sons.

_I'm sorry Mary._ John raised his eyes to the demon woman standing before him, and cleared his throat. "I-I've decided."

"Have you now?" The woman smiled. "Fancy that. And who is the lucky lottery winner today?"

John hesitated, but somehow he always knew whom he would choose. "Sam…"

"Ahh…"The woman laughed. " The boy, of course. Daddy always has to swoop in and save the day, now doesn't he?"

John ignored the blow, glaring back at the demon.

"But of course, you've always been taking care of Sam, haven't you?" the demon questioned mockingly. "I mean, he runs of to college, forgets his family, and he still gets your soul. That's quite a deal if I do say so myse" –

"Shut your mouth," John interrupted angrily. "You can't change my mind on this."

The woman looked him over, frowning. "Alright." She walked into the middle of the crossroads, a foot away from John, and stopped. John waited for her to do something, but she merely looked over John's shoulder, looking scared.

"What are you" –

"No!" The woman shouted over John's shoulder, causing him to turn around and see what was going on. "This isn't fair! You can't do this!" John turned in a full circle, but there was nobody there. Nobody but him and the crossroads demon. Whom was she talking to?"

All of a sudden, there was a screeching sound, and John turned around to see the woman emptying the demon smoke into the sky, her chest heaving. The body collapsed back onto the ground, limp. He watched for a minute, unsure of what had happened, and then tentatively walked towards the body. He leaned over the woman, putting two fingers to her neck, but there was no pulse. She was dead. And he was alive. What was going on?

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Sam let the yellow-eyed man's hand go with distain, glaring as hard as he could into that piercing gaze.

"You have quite a handshake Sam," the man mocked, smiling. "Winchester trait?"

"It's done," Sam looked down at the man, once again glad to be so tall. "Now let Jess and I go. And leave."

"Well I can see when I'm not wanted," the man pretended to be offended, gasping in fake astonishment. "I guess I will let you go on your way then." The man raised a hand to head height, and winked. "See you around Sam." His fingers snapped together, and suddenly everything went dark.

It was hard to breathe. Sam felt himself coughing, trying to get his airways cleared, but he couldn't. His eyes shot open into a fiercely bright room, and he felt himself reaching for his throat to try and help himself. His left hand caught on something, but his right made it to his face and felt a tube that had been shoved down his throat. Where was he?

A siren-like noise began beside Sam's ear, and he heard people running into the room. "Oh my gosh!" A woman was talking in the room, but Sam couldn't tell whom too. Someone pushed his hands out of the way, and he felt the tube being painfully pulled from his throat. Then he sat up before the arms could stop him, his left arm catching again, and he felt something sharp rip the skin on the inside of his elbow. Wincing, he looked around him to the startled faces of two nurses and an orderly who all watched him with amazement. He looked down, noticing that he had ripped out the IV on his left arm off. Seeing the IV, he realized where he was and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Looking to a nurse who was talking at him, he tried to get himself to talk. He could hear himself coughing, but he couldn't feel it. Then he looked to the nurse's mouth, and realized that it wasn't moving. She wasn't talking, but he could hear her. His eyes moved to the other bed, and he saw the mouth of another nurse moving, and it matched the voice. She was talking to someone else.

It was then that it hit him. He wasn't the one coughing. He wasn't the one they were talking too.

Quickly, Sam's head jerked to the right, where he saw Jessica sitting up in similar fashion to him in the next bed, a look of pure confusion written across her features. Sam's eyes raked her face greedily, moving across her high cheekbones, startling eyes and golden waves. He smiled at her, although she wasn't looking at him, and felt his mouth open in awe. "J-Jess?" His voice was rough from the breathing tube and the smoke damage, but he could hear himself.

Jess's eyes turned to meet him, and her face lit up in a gorgeous smile. Sam guessed she could hear him too. "Sam?" Jessica's voice had a slight edge to it too, but most all of the burns were gone from everywhere on her body. There was a tiny line of a burn across her right collarbone and her hair was bit scorched, but as far as Sam could see she was scar-free. His smile widened. The deal had worked. And it was worth it. Anything for Jessica Moore was worth it.

_No_, Sam corrected himself happily. _Not Jessica Moore. Jessica Winchester. My wife._ He looked up to her again to see her watching him expectantly. "Talk about one crazy honeymoon."

Jessica laughed, a bittersweet sound to Sam's empty ears, and she shook her head at him with an eye roll. "I hate to say I was expecting something a little more romantic Sam."

Sam nodded, grinning from ear to ear like a child. "Me too, to be honest." His smile dampened a bit in size, but not intensity. "Common Jess, how about it. Let's go home." He meant it figuratively, considering that their home had been engulfed in flames and was completely uninhabitable. But wherever Jess was would be home. He's make sure of that.

Jess nodded, reading his mind, and Sam thought he saw tears in her eyes. They looked at each other for a moment, the only two people in the room who knew the truth, and ignored the looks of the nurses and the orderly watching their exchange as if Sam and Jessica were stars on a romantic soap opera. They were all stuck between waiting for Jess's response and trying to decide if Sam was going to continue, but he ignored them. He had eyes only for Jess.

"Yeah," Jess replied as intimately as if they didn't have an audience, and her voice hitched. She hesitated in the middle of a smile, and touched her fingers to her lips, blowing a secret kiss his way that the others couldn't see. "Let's go home Sam."


	35. Chapter 35

Underneath Dean, the car sped away as if escaping a fire. Dean didn't let of on the gas until he was far enough into town that he needed to be inconspicuous, and even then he went at least ten miles above the speed limit. The hospital parking lot was a challenge then, as he swerved his way into the first available spot and jumped out hurriedly. He had to be sure this time, quite sure. He had to be sure if he had made the deal or not to save Sam's life. The demon hadn't told him that the deal was made, but did that matter? Had he sold his soul without knowing it? And if so, how long did they give him? The only way to know would be to see Sam for himself. If Sam was fine, than he would know that he had made the deal.

The automatic doors parted for Dean, as if anticipating his need for speed, and he practically ran through the waiting room towards the elevator. Stopping a few inches short of the door, he backed up to press the button repeatedly. "Common, common…."

Muttering to himself, Dean took another hesitant step away from the button, shoving his hands in his pockets so that he couldn't fidget. He just had to be patient. He just had to see Sam for his own eyes and make his own assessments. Sam would be okay. He would. He had to be okay –

_Ding._

The elevator door opened, and Dean's eyes moved back up, ready to push whomever was walking out of there out of the way so he could see his little brother. But the sight that met him wasn't what he expected. _Sam _was walking through the doorway, his arm around Jess's shoulder.

"Sam!" Dean didn't even have to think as he crossed the barrier between him and the man in a step, throwing his arms into a bear hug. He couldn't believe it. Sam was alive!

"…Hey Dean." Sam's voice was a little forced, although happy, as he made a slow reply.

Suddenly recognizing the reason for his brother's tone, Dean loosened his grip immediately, settling with putting a hand on his shoulder instead. Sam was taking a deep breath to recuperate from that bone-crushing hug, shaking his head slightly with a grimace. In habit, Dean did a mental check of his brother. There was a little burn mark below Sam's hairline, and a few more on his arms. But unlike before, they were clearly not going to scar. And other than the tired look on his face, Sam clearly wasn't suffering from any broken ribs, which the hug clearly would have aggravated. So Sam really was healed after all!

"We missed you too, Dean." Another voice hit Dean's ears, and he spun around to see Jess standing there, not at all indignant for being pushed out of the way. His eyes swept over her too, seeing that she was in the same condition as Sam. Jess was healed too! Dean couldn't believe it. So… he had made the deal? But how was Jess healed then?

Dean's mind swam with questions. He knew he should be seriously worried – Who knew how much time he had left? – But he was too overjoyed at the sight of Sam and his new wife in such good condition to care.

"…_Sam_?"

They all looked at the sound of John's voice, and Dean turned to see his father standing a few feet away looking like Dean felt, surprised and confused. But also happy too.

The group looked to face its new member, smiles lighting up every face. John looked worried, and even after hugging Sam and Jess he still looked amazed to see them back again. Jessica looked confused, but she had found herself against Sam again easily and appeared happy, if not ecstatic, to be conscious again. Sam was probably the only one in the group who looked like he knew what was going on, and although he had an arm protectively around Jessica's shoulders he still seemed to be at peace. Dean noticed that his eyes kept moving to Jess curiously, as if her coming back was more outstanding than Sam. It was odd seeing him react like that… because that was how Dean felt too. So if he _had_ made a deal, which he didn't yet know for sure, than how did Jess get healed? And why was John wearing the same expression?

After marveling over his father's curious face and Jess's magical healing for a few seconds, Dean looked back to Sam only to see something he didn't notice before. Unlike Jess, who seemed genuinely surprised to be in near perfect shape again, Sam's eyes held understanding.

"How did this happen…?" John looked from Sam to Jess, and back again, asking the question that they all needed to hear.

Jess, as if wondering that herself, looked up to Sam. Dean followed suit.

"Hey don't ask me," Sam's shoulder's moved up and down in a shrug, raising his free hand head height and palm upwards. Dean noticed that he already recovered his wedding ring. "I've got no clue."

Dean expected what surely would come next, when they would all ask _who_ had made the deal. Soon they would know it was Dean.... There would be no denying it. But Sam didn't ask, almost as if he already knew what had happened. Dean frowned, and suddenly he wasn't so sure after all that _he_ knew what happened. He tried to put the puzzle pieces together in his head. So…John looked guilty and confused, just like Dean felt. They were _both_ surprised to see Jess back. Did they _both_ make deals? Was that possible? Dean thought about it for a sec. Maybe if they both sold their souls for Sam, one of the deals went to Jess instead. Could the crossroads demons do that? _But the demon left before we finished the deal! _ Dean shook his head at himself. _That can't be right!_

"Did…"Dean looked to his father, suddenly anxious. " You didn't…?" He didn't even have to finish his sentence for John to understand.

"No," John shook his head immediately, as if afraid they would all get angry. But Dean noticed the hesitancy in his eyes. "Of course not. _You_ didn't…?"

"No…"Dean frowned, trying to make sense of what was happening. He could read enough of John's face to know that he was guilty of going to the demon. Dean and John both tried to make deals, although neither one knew if they were successful or not. And it was clear that they would have both chosen Sam, so how did Jess survive too? Dean looked to his brother again, who was watching their short-lived accusations with a concerned expression that someone in his place should have, although he didn't seem confused or surprised. Sam was going through the motions of looking upset, but he didn't actually seem to believe that either of them had made a deal on his behalf. He wasn't even considering it. So Sam knew that they hadn't made deals… But if they hadn't made deals, than who had?

Jess looked to Dean and John with an expression of concern. "…Did you _what_?"

"Nothing." Sam kissed the top of Jess's head as if it was just an ordinary day, his arm squeezing her shoulders lightly. "I think we all just need a good long sleep." He laughed lightly. "I don't know what's worse, being this hungry or this tired."

"Hungry, I think." Jess smiled jokingly back, and Dean felt a surge of pride at his brother for finding someone like Jess. They seemed so happy together.

John sighed, as if a weight had been lifted of his shoulders. Maybe Sam's sudden reassurance was beginning to wear off on him too. "I could go for a coffee."

Dean's smile was a little late, although he didn't have to fake it. "I could eat the whole buffet."

"Good," Sam made the first move to leave, and they all followed along happily. "Let's get out of this god-forsaken place."

"I couldn't agree with you more," Dean replied with a smirk. "I think hospitals have officially moved to my top ten places that I hate."

For a second, for a brief flash of a second, Dean thought he saw something in Sam's eyes like understanding, as if Dean's joke had brought up a really bad memory. Dean frowned at the look, wondering what brought it on, but before he could comment Sam was smiling again, replying to something that Jess had whispered in his ear. Dean couldn't help falling back in the group for a minute, and stopped to think about what had just happened here. Sam was alive and well. So was Jess. The thing that had killed Sam and Dean's mom was still out there, but Jess and Sam had survived its wrath. They were supposed to be dead… but they weren't. And neither John nor Dean had made a deal that they knew of. And Sam knew something… Whatever _something_ meant. Something had happened, something that Dean couldn't piece together and Sam didn't seem to want to tell him. This didn't sound good…

"You coming, dude?" John turned around to raise an eyebrow at his slowpoke son as he drifted behind, and Sam and Jess looked over their shoulders with grins, caught in the middle of another lovey-dovey moment. "I thought you said you want to get out of here…"

Dean took a second to look at his family, his newfound family again. How long ago had it been since he had gotten Sam from Stanford? A month? One month ago it was just Dean and John, all alone in the country. But after what had seemed like an eternity without his brother, and even more eternities of almost loosing him twice, Dean had Sam back for good. And Jessica was part of the family too now, part of the Winchester family that harbored secrets too strong to harbor alone. They were probably the weirdest, most therapy-worthy family in the country, but they were a family still. Dean caught Sam's eyes, and he saw sincerity there, and hope. Well maybe Sam knew something… but he was hopeful and happy. Shouldn't that be enough?

Dean felt a grin spread across his face as if it had a life of his own. "Sorry dad, I didn't want you to feel challenged or anything." His lip raised in a joking smirk, and he caught up to his family while narrowly avoiding a punch to the arm by his father. "Just jokes," he laughed as he threw one himself, and couldn't help the feeling of pure happiness at the atmosphere around him as he heard the rest of his family laughing. It was going to be okay this time, he was sure of it.

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	36. Chapter 36

I'm sorry to say, oh dear readers, that this story has finally wound its course. Ok, so that's just fancy talk for saying that this will be the second last chapter. I know that some of you may not agree with this choice, but I feel that it is time to end it, and as you should have noticed by now the chapters are setting themselves up for an ending. There is a chance of a sequel, but if so it wont be for a while. I will be working hard on my other stories, which are taking up my valuable time right now.

As the story is ending, I would like to give you guys a chance to give your final input before the story comes to a close. What would you like to see happen in the last chapter, keeping in mind that there may or may not be a sequel? This is your last chance to tell me what you want, so I would love to read lots of reviews soon. Thanks!

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John walked out of the hospital with an odd sense of anticlimax. How did they get out of that one? So Sam was alive… and _Jess _was too. John knew that he didn't make the deal right, because he was never one to loose his head and go into a situation unprepared. That meant he had done every search of every rule from every source about everything that could happen when making a deal with a demon. And the crossroads demon had not sealed the deal with him, so that meant that he hadn't sold his soul for Sam.

That was a good thing, John knew. It wasn't that he wouldn't make the deal for Sam – of course, his son's lives were more precious to him than his own – but he was thrilled to see that Sam had somehow dodged a bullet on his own.

The thing was though… Who _had_ made the deal? Dean?

John remembered the look of shear confusion and bliss on his son's face when Dean saw his brother and Jess alive and happy, and he looked the way that John felt. But the way he was acting, and the way he asked almost immediately if John had made a deal, while still looking guilty all the same… No, something wasn't right. But John didn't really think that it was Dean who made the deal, although his better instincts told him that that was the only situation that made any sense. He was still wondering…

Because of Sam. The way Sam seemed so at ease, that he never even _questioned _how he was alive, how Jess was alive. It wasn't sane. There was only one way that he could be so sure of himself, despite all the questions around them…. Maybe it was because he already knew that answers. Maybe, somehow, Sam knew what was going on. And he was keeping John and Dean out of the loop for some reason.

Taking a mental step back, John tried to assess the situation like the professional that he was. He gave his son a quick look, noticing his protective arm around Jessica, and respectfully noted that Sam had a new person he was trying to protect. His girlfriend.

The realization suddenly caught John off guard, and he staggered a few steps. No… not girlfriend. His wife. Not Jessica Moore, Jessica _Winchester_. John had a daughter in-law. His son was married!

"Sam…"John couldn't help the tug of a little smile on the corners of his mouth, but he wiped them away, dawning instead the look of a military commander. " Can I talk to you for a sec?"

Turning to meet his father's gaze, Sam seemed to recognize the tone of voice and dropped his arm from around Jess's shoulders as if afraid of getting her in trouble. To be honest, John found it kind of funny to see. "Yeah, sure dad." He gave Jess and Dean knowing looks. "Hey guys, can you give us a minute?"

Jess looked to Dean, who nodded. "Yeah, sure…"Dean tossed them a worried glance, probably worried that John was going to pick a fight with Sam. This made John a little annoyed to see, but he couldn't deny that he had done it before.

"No, no." John gestured for Dean and Jess to come back. "This involves them too."

Sam gave a little nervous twitch, his eyes moving to quickly to Jess, then back to John. Even without Sam talking, John knew what message he was trying to convey. Jess was part of their secret now, but it was still Sam's job to protect her. And now he was worried about her knowing too much too fast.

Jessica looked up to Sam curiously, wondering what was going on. Sam and Dean had patient waiting looks, probably convinced that they knew exactly what John was going to say. But unlike them, Jess didn't know how their family did things quite yet.

"So…"John looked sternly at his youngest son. " Guess what I found out recently?"

There was a pause. Sam raised his eyebrows. "You… uh… got a promotion?"

"Very funny, smart-ass. I was talking about that little _ceremony_ that you neglected to invite your old man to." John tilted his head knowingly in Jessica's direction, and she blushed.

It was almost comical the way Dean's face lit up at that knowledge, finally remembering something juicy that he was free to bug his little brother about. "Oh yeah…"Dean's smirk was almost too pronounced as he pulled a faded picture from the inside of his coat pocket, handing it to the couple. " You guys might want this."

Sam looked eagerly to the wedding picture in Dean's hand and then back at his dad, as if not understanding. "I, uh…"He cleared his throat uncomfortably. " Yeah about that… sorry we didn't invite you, it was kind of a sudden decision and" –

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again," John interrupted sternly, but when Sam saw that he was smiling, he sighed.

"Yes sir." Sam took it the picture quickly from Dean's outstretched hand, and Jess immediately crowded closer to see it. They both smiled like it was Christmas. "Wow… I never thought I'd see this thing again."

"And Jess?"  
Looking up so fast that her hair bounced a little, Jess had the facial expression of a little kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She probably figured it was her turn to get yelled at now.

"Welcome to the family."

Too confused to realize how he got there, suddenly Jessica was hugging him. John hesitated for a minute, stumped, and patted her on the back awkwardly. Hopefully she took that to be enough – John hadn't really been a "hugger" since Mary died – and he heard her laugh a little, her curly hair tickling his nose and making him want to sneeze. God, how much she reminded him of Mary! John smiled. If this girl was anything like Mary, than Sam was pretty well off. And if not, she made him happy anyways and that was all that mattered. As they pulled out of the hug, John saw Dean thumping Sam on the back triumphantly, grinning.

"Congrats man!" Dean was lifting his other hand, and John heard the jingling of car keys being thrown Sam's way.

Sam caught them with a look of amazement. "No way!"

Dean raised a warning finger, making John smile. "_One _drive. And dude… If you hurt my baby I will _end_ you."

"Yeah Dean," Sam was moving towards the Impala, laughing. "Sure."

"Oh and by the way," John put a hand on Sam's shoulder, pulling him close enough to at least pretend they were whispering. " At least give me some warning next time something like this happens, okay? I don't care if you are my son or not, I swear I will kick your ass!"

Dean, who was within earshot at the time, snorted with laughter under his breath.

In too good of a mood right now to even pretend to be serious, Sam laughed again. "Yeah dad," he pulled away from an attempted noogie. "If you can lift your cane off the ground."

By now, Dean was laughing as hard as he could without falling over, and Jess was stifling giggles behind her hand.

"Hey now," John managed to cuff Sam on the back of the head hard enough to smart, "A little respect please." And noticing Dean's laughter, John cuffed him too.

"Oww…"Dean rubbed the back of his head with an exaggerated frown as he climbed into the passenger's side door and they all took their respected seats. " As if you had to make it public how messed up this family is?"

"Aww common," Sam revved up the engine with a smirk. "Don't diss… I actually _liked_ the Adam's Family."

This got another laugh out of both of John's sons, and he rolled his eyes in the backseat as he and Jess buckled their seatbelts.

"I don't know…"Jess's fair voice was a lot smoother and higher than everyone else's, and it was drowned out by the roaring of laughter in the front. " I think this is a pretty nice family."

_I like this girl…_ John tossed her a respective glance, and she smiled in reply. _Welcome to the club, kid._

The rest of John's thoughts drifted away as the car sped loudly out of the parking lot, Metallica filtering through the speakers and already threatening to deafen them as the new and improved Winchester family took off. For once in their lives, things were looking up.


	37. Chapter 37

Alright everyone, I should probably start out by saying that I am SOOOOOOO sorry about taking like a month or more to post this. I'm not going into detail, but let's just say that I've been having some health problems lately. And honestly, I was just not motivated to write for a while. But I'm back in the game now, so don't worry.

**And no, I wasn't lying when I said I was finishing this story. I have other stories I would like to work on, and I think that "Dreams, Planes, and Vampires, Eh?" has finally wound its coarse.**

**There are a lot of unanswered questions in this story, but I am planning on writing a sequel someday. Hopefully in the near future too. I have a lot planned for the sequel, although it wont be an instant thing.**

**This was my first fanfic, and I have a special place in my heart for it. It is dear to me in a way that none of my other work is, and so are my very first bunch of fans: YOU GUYS!**

**I will never forget the support I have gotten on this story, and I would be so flattered to see you guys reading and reviewing on the sequel and some of my other stories.**

**Now without further ado, I would like to introduce one of the final chapters! ENJOY!**

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Sam sighed, throwing a broken and charred picture frame on top of the overflowing box of things that they were getting rid of. "You know, out of all the things that they saved from the wreckage, they really could have used a little better judgment."

They were in their apartment – now that the police said it was fine to enter again – and had stopped by straight from the hospital to pick up anything that could be saved. To be honest, Sam had been scared to be going back. But Jess's confidence in the matter reassured him.

Jess nodded in reply before tossing something that looked like a vase in the box along with it. "Well maybe they would have thought that we would find something sentimental in here."

He laughed dryly. _Sentimental?_ He didn't really know what the word sentimental meant to most people, to be honest. The few photographs in his wallet, the Impala, his watch; those were sentimental. The very few things that he had owned throughout his lifetime for years at a time, they were sentimental. But the apartment full of college-budget furniture and items weren't sentimental to him. In a way, Sam found it kind of funny. He had spent so many years wishing that he could get away from the hunting lifestyle, and now that he had lost his precious Stanford life he wasn't as sad as he would expect to be. No, none of this stuff really mattered to him. They would find a few pictures of them and their friends to keep, maybe a small trinket or two that hadn't burned or melted or gotten crushed in the wreckage. That would be enough to remind them of their home. Jess would probably take it harder than he would, because she had grown up used to having _more_ than a duffel bag of objects that she cherished. Of course that was normal. But now after everything had burned up, she would be lucky to fill a single bag of the things she had left.

"Hey," Jess held up a white piece of cloth – from her wedding dress, Sam assumed – and grinned sheepishly at him. "Now we match."

Sam smirked down at himself, looking at the black dress pants and white tux shirt that he wore un-tucked. When the fire broke out, they had been straight home from the wedding. He had ended up in the hospital in his tux pants and shirt. Jess had ended up even worse, pulled from the ceiling in a bloody slip. So right now, straight from the hospital, they were wearing whatever they could find. Jess was wearing a pair of Dean's sweatpants with the waist clinched as tight as it would go, and the undershirt and jacket from Sam's tux outfit. And Sam was wearing the same thing that he had worn to the hospital, very grateful to see that they had cleaned it for him.

"You know," Sam offered, noticing that Jess stopped to pull the baggy sweatpants up _again_. "We could have done this later. Maybe we should have gotten some decent clothes for us first."

"Dean and John can handle it," Jess didn't even look up as she threw another pile of garbage on top of garbage. "They said they would pick something up on the way here. I trust them."

"Do you?" Sam raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Cause honestly, we don't really have much experience with… you know…living with girls and all. You might end up with like," he winced. "A Hannah Montana shirt or something. I don't even think they know how to figure out the sizes."

Jess laughed at the thought. "Well then I can always go back and get something else."

"In a Hannah Montana shirt?"

"If that's how it turns out."

"Well than maybe I should get some Jonas Brothers merchandise so we can match…"Sam tried to keep a straight face as he pictured the looks he would get from Dean if he even stood beside something that said Hannah Montana or the Jonas Brothers."

"Yeah, Dean would love that." Jess was smirking, and Sam smiled in reply. Wow, she really could read his thoughts now, couldn't she? This must be the first steps of marriage, he thought jokingly. _She's already got me captive._ Somehow he didn't mind.

Jess pulled out a singed shoe box, and smiled as she opened the lid. "Bingo."

"What?" Sam hurried over, happy to hear that she had found something actually worth finding.

"Look," Jess pulled out a handful of photos, which were a little dusty but otherwise unharmed. She blew some of the dust off, shaking them back and forth a little bit. "I wondered what happened to these."

Sam sidestepped a pile of charred wood – or something – on the floor to look over her shoulder. The picture on top was one of them and a few close friends. Sam had his arm around Jessica's shoulder on one side, and on the other was Greg, a redheaded goofy looking guy with a smirk on his face. Tessa was squished in the middle, laughing at the awkwardness of the pose as they all tried to get into range of the camera that was but a foot away from their faces. Everyone looked so happy. Sam smiled.

"I'm going to miss them," Jess spoke the words before he could even think them, and he nodded. "It's too bad we couldn't see them one more time before… we you know."

Sam frowned, putting a hand on her shoulder so he could turn her to face him. "What do you mean?"

"Sam…"Jess's face was pensive, as if she had thought about this for a long time. "We already talked about this. I'm going with you on this hunt."

Wanting to argue, Sam opened his mouth to speak. But the truth was that he _had_ agreed to take her with him. It was the only way that they could be together.

"We haven't had a chance to talk since… since it happened," Jess's frown deepened and her eyes darted downward, obviously reliving the experience with the fire. Protectively, Sam wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and she laid her head against his chest. "I know things are going to change now. Lots. We obviously aren't going to live here anymore. I kind of figured that we were dropping out of Stanford too, and if that's what you want I think I'm okay with that."

"No Jess," Sam sighed, looking at the wreckage around them. "I don't want that, but I can't have what I want. I wanted what we used to have, and I wanted you to be able to have that perfect life. You know that."

Jess nodded against him.

"But you also know that I can't stay here while that thing is still alive. I need to be with my family, doing what I do best." He frowned at that thought; wondering when hunting became what he did best. The thought used to irritate him. Law could have been what he did best, but now he realized that that life wasn't his to live. "And I'm a selfish prick for this, but I want you to come with me."

"You're not a selfish prick," Jess defended softly. "That's what I'm trying to say. You offered me this choice, and it's what I want. I had chances to leave. Now I'm a part of this too. I… I want to hunt this thing."

Subconsciously, Sam's arms tightened around her. That thought wasn't a pleasant one. Even worse than the weapons training and the lies and the hunting itself, was the hate for the things that they hunted. All three Winchester men took that for granted, they almost cherished it because it united them. They hated those things, and they hated them _togethe_r because nobody else could understand. Sam had wanted to spare that hate from Jess, to keep her his innocent little wife forever. He knew that it wasn't really possible to keep Jess away from the emotional side of hunting, but it was too soon. Too soon for him to accept it.

"Jess…" Sam's voice wasn't as firm and assured as he would have liked. "You would be safer if I left you here and never came back, but I know neither of us are going to be happy with that. I'm glad that you've… decided to come with me, as hard as it is to accept. But you are _not_ hunting this thing. I won't let you."

"But" –

"No," Sam shook his head slowly, her hair tickling the bottom of his chin. "No. I've put you in enough danger. And just by taking you with me, it's going to get worse. I'm going to teach you how to protect yourself, how to help out and do research. If your lucky, maybe we can even promote you to do first aid and help out when someone comes home bloody."

Jessica was quiet in his arms. "Don't joke about that."

"I'm not. Jess, this is the life. And you're going to be a part of it, but I'm only letting you on the sidelines."

"Don't I get a choice?"

Sam hesitated, drawing in a deep breath. "No. You have the choice to come with me or not. That's it. You can still change your mind if this isn't what you want."

"Sam, stop it." Jess put her hands into his chest, shoving him away, and his arms dropped immediately.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you or" –

"No, stop making excuses. If you want me to leave, just say it."

For a moment, Sam was dumbstruck. How could he want her to leave? Jess was everything to him. "No, I don't want you to do that."

"Than this conversation is pointless. I'm not abandoning you, and you can't make me unless you chain me back up to that ceiling. I am coming with you, and that's that."

"I… If your sure…"

Jess gave him a slight sad grin. "Of course I'm sure, Sam. Why would anyone want to leave you?"

"Not even after… you know…?"

"It will take a lot more than a man with yellow eyes to separate us, Sam."

He bit his bottom lip between his teeth for a second, nodding. He hadn't had a chance to talk to Jess alone since the accident, and truthfully he wasn't sure if she remembered who had attacked her. Sam wasn't sure if he should be grateful that he didn't have to explain or sorry that she remembered. Maybe both. "Than I think I owe you an explanation," he started slowly, scratching the back of his neck. "An apology, actually. There is still something I haven't told you."

Jess's eyes glimmered with curiosity, interest, but not a hint of doubt. _Of course not._ Jess never accused him of anything. Sam hated it really. He would rather have liked to know that someone would call him out when he crossed the line. It was hard to know if he was doing the right thing letting her come, or if he was just being selfish. But now, looking at her concerned expression, he could tell that it was still the same. She still trusted him with all her heart, and that made it so hard to speak. He knew that what he was about to say could jeopardize that, but the only way to know if her love was real was for her to love him no matter what. And he wanted her to know the real him, and all the truth. So he _had_ to tell her.

Jess must have caught his hesitancy. "Sam, what is it?"

"What…"Sam took a deep breath, trying to steady himself. " What happened to you, with yellow-eyes… I could have stopped it."

As if tired, Jess sighed. "You cant protect me all the time Sam, it's not your fault. You didn't know it was going to happen."

"But that's the thing…"Sam looked to the ground, unsuccessful in his attempt to keep her eyes for long. "I-I _could_ have stopped it."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I had this dream – dreams, actually – and it happened but I didn't want to believe it. I never thought something in a dream could actually come true. But it kept happening and I was freaking out, but dad said that it must just be the side-affects of the run-in with the demon and that it was okay, and I forgot about it when I got out and then it just happened and…." Sam cut himself short, knowing he was rambling. _Damnit Sam, is that the best you can come up with?_ After all the times he wanted to tell Jess about his nightmares, he thought he would have had something better to say. Clearly he was wrong.

For a minute, Jess just looked at him. "You mean you… you had a dream that I was set on fire on the ceiling?" Jess's voice was unreadable, and Sam's brain did a mental alert.

"I, I didn't know, but…"Sam shut himself up again, hanging his head. " Yeah."

"Oh."

_Oh? OH?_ Sam bit his lip, waiting for something, anything. She could yell at him, slap him, do anything, as long as she just _did_ something. "Jess?"

"Are these the same dreams you've been having for months?" Jess sounded angry now, and Sam wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed. Maybe both.

Sam nodded.

"You… you should have told me." Jess's jaw was tight, and she looked away with a frown. "Damnit Sam, you should have said something."

Sam flinched at her words, nodding. He was going to take this, because he knew he deserved it. "I… I know. I know I should have. I'm sorry. I just didn't want to consider the possibility. I've never heard of dreams coming true, I swear. If I had known that it could come true I would have done something about it."

"I know. But… still. This time we have to do it right. Seriously Sam… no more lies between us," Jess raised her eyes to him, her face serious. "You have to promise."

Sam thought of his deal with the yellow-eyed man, and his promise not to tell anyone about it. He couldn't tell Jess… even though he wanted too. He wasn't allowed, or who knows what would happen. It was a necessary lie, but not one he felt right keeping. "Of course…"He felt himself hesitate, although Jess didn't seem to catch it. " No more lies. We are going to do this together."

Jess's eyes softened, and Sam noticed that there were tears in them. She looked tired, at about her breaking point. To be honest, he had been expecting this. After what she went through it was understandable.

"Come here." Sam pulled her back against his chest and she wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying her face in his shirt. "It's going to be alright Jess, I promise you that."

This time he hoped that he could keep his promise.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Two hours later, they were dressed in some decent fitting clothes. Sam had his jeans and button-up, and Jess was wearing a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt with snoopy on it. Of course, Dean picked it out. _Why am I not surprised?_

They had left Palo Alto an hour ago, after making half a dozen laborous phone calls each to their friends, the University, and Jess's parents saying that they had to leave urgently and weren't coming back for quite a while, at least. There had been tears from their friends – particularly Tessa, who was all ready to throw them a "welcome back" party because she had missed them so much – and the University had been confused. Jess's parent's advised them against leaving so soon after the accident, but they seemed to support her decision. Sam felt horrible ripping her away from such a wonderful family.

Already, they had done a complete search of the possible signs that anything supernatural could have been in Palo Alto, and there was nothing. Sam had expected as much. The yellow-eyed man, whatever he was, seemed pretty powerful. He could cover his tracks easily. Sam would follow through with the deal and let him get away this time. He could hunt and kill this thing later.

At the moment, Sam was slouched back against the backseat of the Impala, his head against the glass of the rearview window. His arm was lying against the back of the headrests, and Jess was leaned up against the crook of his arm, her head against his shoulder and her eyes closed. Her hair was quite a bit shorter now because she had gotten the damage from the fire cut off, and now it was just below shoulder length. Still, it somehow managed to stick out in just the right places to be right in his face, and he planted a kiss in the mass of curls hoping that he might come in contact with her head somewhere under there.

A bit of a smile gracing her features, Jess tightened her one-armed grip around Sam's waist, sighed, and made a tiny little moaning sound under her breath.

"Sorry…"Sam whispered, giving her a little squeeze of reply. "I didn't mean to wake you up."

A little laugh met his apology. "I was never asleep," Jess whispered softly back, keeping her eyes closed. "I was just resting my eyes."

"Okay…"Sam huffed a little bit under his breath, grinning. "Whatever you say."

John tossed them a glance over his shoulder in the passenger's seat, and Sam met his father's slightly skeptical eyes with humor and a bit of a smirk. John had been giving him "the look" every ten seconds or so, and Sam just stared back. He could understand why seeing him and Jessica together was so weird for John, because he had barely even known about the girl until just recently. But now that things were out in the open, there was no point in hiding the truth about him and Jessica. Sam was in love with the girl. If he wanted to put an arm around his wife in front of his father, he was going to damn well do it!

_My wife…_ The corner of Sam's mouth raised in a grin. _Jessica Lee Winchester_._ It has a nice ring to it_. Sam still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he and Jess had finally tightened the knot. The service hadn't exactly been fancy, and the wedding night had been interrupted, but they were still married. And what's more, Jess knew all about him being a hunter, about what his family did, and she still loved him for the way that he was. For so long, Sam had been afraid that if Jess knew the truth about Sam's family and his past that she would start running. In fact, he had almost relished it as an excuse not to tell her, just so he could stay normal.

But the truth was, things were never going to be normal. Normal was easy to come by, but not for the Winchesters. Jessica had willingly become a part of this family, and that meant putting up with all the crap that Sam had run away from in the first place. He would have to start showing her the good in his family too, Sam decided. He needed Jess to witness for herself the way that Dean managed to share everything and anything while still acting like he was tough, or the protective stance John semiconsciously took in front of his sons if he thought they were in danger. Sam had and his family had their differences; that much was certain. But now that he was back together with them again did he realize how much he had missed them. And he was determined to make Jessica a part of this family, just as she was already a part of his.

The cards were on the table, and now it was his turn to play them. John was already softening up to his knew daughter-in-law, and Dean acted like a gentleman and refrained from flirting with her at every available moment. And that was saying something, considering that it was Dean. If Sam's family put all this effort into making a good impression, that only meant one thing… They liked her.

Jess was a symbol of Sam's "new" life, the one he had left John and Dean for in the first place. He had broken up his family for a life like this, and for Jess. And if they liked her, they liked _him_ again too. He was forgiven.

Forgiven. For the first time in a long time, there was no tension between his two lives. The Sam that loved Jessica and the Sam that loved his family could finally be the same person again. And now he could finally forgive himself.

Jess shifted her weight against him, and lifted her head off his shoulder for a minute to look up towards his face. "Sam?" Her words were soft and mumbled from sleep. "Are we there yet?"

Sam chuckled under his breath, smirking silently at her. "I thought _I_ was the immature one in this relationship."

"I'm not being immature," Jess sighed softly into his ear, still waking up. "I just want to know."

"We'll get there when we get there," Sam replied with a smirk, and Jess grumbled in reply. "Go back to sleep."

"I guess I'm going to have to get used to this," Jess's voice was more serious than Sam had expected, and he hesitated. "I know we talked about this, and I'm still sticking to my decision. You know that."

Sam swallowed deeply, his Adam's apple moving with the effort. He had to stick with his decision too, involving the deal. The bed had been made, and now he had to lie in it. But he was going to fight until this thing was dead. He was going to do it for Jess. "Yeah…"He sighed, pulling her closer against him. "Me too."

_**THE END**_

_**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**_

**That's all folks! Yes, you can hate me all you want, but I'm done this story. I REALLY REALLY hope you guys liked the ending, and come back to read the sequel when it comes out. Again, I'm sorry it took so long to post this. I would have continued, but I have a majorly busy summer ahead of me.**

**YOU GUYS ARE ALL AMAZING! I am going to miss the fan devotion that this story got… I am so happy I could continue it for so long! :D **

**Please, please, please, please, tell me what you thought! I want to read a review from all of you! It will be your final goodbye! **

**Until then, dear reader, farewell. Until we meet again, don't forget to eat your wheeties and say "Christo" to strangers. Bye!**


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